"Jessica Chastain"

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Speaker 2 Guys, happy summer.

Speaker 1 Huh? How's the summer going? Right? So nice. It's so summery.
It's really summery. It's so summery.

Speaker 2 We're doing a summer podcast.

Speaker 1 Yeah, this podcast today is going to be hot, hot, hot.

Speaker 2 Sorry about your mouth, Sean.

Speaker 1 Jesus, fuck, dude.

Speaker 2 Somebody punch you in the mouth before we start.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, you're eating. Sorry, silly me.
Oh, my God. Look at my microphone.
Ew, there's tuna all over your microphone, foam. Welcome to Smartlets.
Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Smart.

Speaker 1 Less.

Speaker 1 Hi, JB.

Speaker 2 Hi, JB. Sean,

Speaker 2 I mean.

Speaker 1 Hey, wait, let me just say this.

Speaker 1 Let me just say this.

Speaker 1 JB, it's 9.30.

Speaker 1 It's morning where you are. Sean and I are in the East Coast.

Speaker 1 So what time are you up today to get prepared for your day?

Speaker 2 I got up at 7 today.

Speaker 1 You get up early every day.

Speaker 2 I do.

Speaker 1 Well, 7's not early.

Speaker 2 Let's be clear. No, it's usually six or six thirty.
Today was a little bit later. I'm still battling.

Speaker 1 I'm long hauling

Speaker 2 something.

Speaker 2 It's not

Speaker 1 COVID.

Speaker 2 It's some sort of a head cold kind of sinus thing, a little coffee, a little sniffly. Like I beat it, and then 48 hours later, it came back.

Speaker 1 What is that? Well, you're not the first person in your house to beat it. Let's be honest.
Oh, yeah, yeah. The first person.
I own that song over here.

Speaker 1 the go that's true um wait so but it's not covet you're not sick i mean i'm sick but i'm not i haven't tested but

Speaker 1 maybe i should you know it's so weird i just got back i go do physical therapy and a friend of mine at that office um he was trying to get a tick out of his daughter's arm and he squeezed the tick and it busted open and squirted in his eye and he got covet from it

Speaker 1 i swear to god That's a true story.

Speaker 1 He literally just told me like an hour ago.

Speaker 1 Hang on. Wait.

Speaker 2 So ticks carry COVID now, too, right next to their briefcase full of Lyme's disease?

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, I don't know.

Speaker 1 He said he was, he got home. His wife, nobody wanted to deal with the tick on his daughter's arm.
So he squeezed it and it squirted in his eye.

Speaker 2 Well, maybe he got COVID from his COVID-infested daughter instead of the tick. The tick can't carry two briefcases full of virus.
No.

Speaker 1 This sounds like a pretty elaborate way to make an excuse for something that he's obviously leading like a double life. And so what he did was

Speaker 1 he's like, yeah, I squeezed the tick and then the tick got on my eye, honey. Anyway, that's why he's dating a woman that's a long caller.
The tick squirted in his eye.

Speaker 1 By the way, it should be noted also that JB, that Amanda, you can't tell Amanda that story.

Speaker 1 She's so tick nervous.

Speaker 1 Every time we talk about the East Coast, we talk about

Speaker 1 going to see friends. She gets very ticked off.

Speaker 1 She talks about going to visit friends in Martha's Vineyard or coming to see us out here, and she's all about the ticks.

Speaker 2 You guys talk amongst yourselves. I need water.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 This is the first. He just gets up and goes,

Speaker 1 I know. Oh, he's coughing up a storm out there.
He really is. Well, we're getting all of this.
This is good. If you're a doctor and you're out there, please just listen back.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Boy, you know, you go 8 million miles an hour, kind of like I do a little bit, and you never get sick.

Speaker 1 I never see you sick. I saw you sick last year, maybe once.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm pretty good about it. I mean, I don't want to tempt fate, but I am pretty good about staying well out of the way.
Although, Jason, you never really get sick either.

Speaker 1 Jason never gets sick either.

Speaker 2 Ever. No, I really don't.
I don't.

Speaker 2 But, you know, I'm fired up. Guys,

Speaker 2 I'm excited to be smartlisting today.

Speaker 2 Are you guys ready to smartlist?

Speaker 1 I'm introducing it as a verb.

Speaker 1 Are you getting your smartless on?

Speaker 1 I'm trying.

Speaker 2 I'm trying to fire up. I'm trying to fire up here, you know?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Hey, I'm glad that you're really excited to be be here today and to be smart listening.

Speaker 1 And you mentioned, because we have a guest, because we don't just have a guest, we have an incredible guest today.

Speaker 1 Really? Yeah, well, because.

Speaker 2 Can we vote on that after the guest is revealed?

Speaker 1 Sure, sure. But you know who has voted on this guest? Oh, America.
America. The world.

Speaker 1 The Academy Awards

Speaker 1 has nominated this person three times, and she's won

Speaker 1 for Best Actress. I stood up.
I stood up all straight. Nominated two other times.
I mean, she's won Golden Globes.

Speaker 2 So she's won for three.

Speaker 1 She's won. I mean, she's won everything.

Speaker 1 She's won every possible award, been nominated multiple times for the, do you like the Golden Globes or the, you know, theater awards or Tony Awards or the Theater Awards? Is that what it is?

Speaker 1 But Academy Award, winning Academy Award.

Speaker 1 Once I start listing her credits, you're going to go, oh, yeah, I know exactly what this is. Because these are movies that you like.
They're movies like

Speaker 1 Zero Dark 30 or The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Speaker 2 This is Jessica Chastain.

Speaker 1 This is Jessica Chastain. We are talking.

Speaker 1 Wait a minute. Yes.

Speaker 3 Do I take it off now?

Speaker 1 Wait a minute. What?

Speaker 1 This

Speaker 1 is

Speaker 1 crazy. I just saw you yesterday.
I know.

Speaker 3 It's insane. Congratulations, darling.

Speaker 1 Thank you, honey. I was really.

Speaker 1 Congratulations.

Speaker 3 I mean, now I know you don't want to talk about it, Sean, but it's a big deal. Congratulations.
It's a big, big

Speaker 1 I mean, how amazing to be on that journey with you the whole time. It was so great.

Speaker 3 We had one event where we were just mouthing words to each other the whole time to try to save our voices.

Speaker 1 And then I left. And then I left.
And then you left earlier.

Speaker 2 So, listener, we have, we're taping this at a time that is just after Sean's win at the Tony Awards. So we're trying not to talk about the because this is delayed, but

Speaker 1 go ahead. Oh, I get it.
Okay, we're not allowed to talk about it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but since you guys are both, they're in the midst of it right now. It just ended, listener.

Speaker 1 So we apologize for being a little bit uh late if you can still talk about the experience that because but because it was weird not the experience of that but the the theater experience for people who are listening jessica's theater was literally right next to mine so every single day i got shut off i'd be like i'd like there's jessica chastain starring in a doll's house and there's sean a starring it was weird did you guys ever hear each other's show while while you're while you're performing no but the line to get in was always mixed it was like you don't know if people were in line for your show or my show because always yeah mixed up yeah it was really cool and people waiting outside afterwards So my stage door was on 45th Street, which is the back of the theater.

Speaker 3 And your stage door was on 44th.

Speaker 3 So my car was on the other side. And so every time I would leave, I would see all of the people waiting outside for you.

Speaker 1 It was very sad. So that's crazy.
It's fun, right?

Speaker 1 Kind of, you guys are like in this, your own little sort of in that world and feeling like you're really part of a community and kind of in the trenches together in a way. Yeah, and also

Speaker 1 right. It was also nice to just have a comrade to go through it with, right?

Speaker 3 Now, do you guys have free tickets to each other's show or do you have to pay regular well the thing is we can't see each other's show because we're performing at the same time yeah but now i

Speaker 3 same days off you closed the same day we had mondays off i closed um

Speaker 3 and so now i'm i mean i'm after a week in tahiti she'll be there tonight

Speaker 1 yeah a week i'm gonna come see everything a week in tahiti that sounds so good i need a complete reversal of location where i've just that's about the option although that does sound like a play as well a week in tahiti that gets a one-aid right yeah Jessica's returned to Broadway.

Speaker 1 Maybe that should just be the title of my autobiography, A Week in Tahiti.

Speaker 2 Have you been there before to Tahiti?

Speaker 3 I have, but I went.

Speaker 3 A friend of mine invited me during COVID. So who had, and he had a boat there.
So I basically was just in the water of Tahiti, but we didn't go there.

Speaker 2 You're going to strike land this time.

Speaker 3 I am. I'm very excited.

Speaker 1 Are you exhausted from doing it?

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. I don't know if you can tell.

Speaker 3 My voice is like, I'm done. I've been taking all these immunity medicines and stuff because I just feel like any second my body's gonna go.
All right, now's the time.

Speaker 1 I'm gonna kick your ass. Well, let me ask you, I'm gonna ask you that, because we've been going through this with Sean.
I feel like we're all on this journey with Sean Jason and I are.

Speaker 1 But Jessica, tell me if you have the, and this actually goes to both of you guys.

Speaker 1 You know that what you're gonna be about to embark on when you're gonna do a play on Broadway is gonna be really demanding in a lot of different ways, but especially physically.

Speaker 1 And so you prep yourself, I imagine, like you get yourself up. You're like, okay, here we go.
We're gonna do this. I'm going to be fine.
And then what is the point when you start doing it?

Speaker 1 You go like, oh, my God, this is way worse than I thought.

Speaker 1 Is it a week? Is it two weeks? Is it a month?

Speaker 3 Oh, gosh. I mean, after the first week of previews for me, at one point, I went to the director and I said, I don't think this is sustainable.

Speaker 3 I don't understand this level of motion. I don't think it's sustainable.
And he's like, no, you can do it. That was just his response to every time I was like, are you sure? You could do it.

Speaker 1 Okay. How long did you do do your show

Speaker 3 uh we oh god we did 137 performances

Speaker 3 but my show also it was it was it was pretty emotional there was like there was heavy crying for like an hour each show so it was it definitely is not something we're gonna do it again somewhere I'll have another life next year but in very short much shorter runs

Speaker 3 because otherwise I'll lose my mind can you can you flick the switch on crying pretty easy or is it a big process for you some people it's easy no I'm like you know the kids when they do, I always think about this with my kids is when I see them playing, they absolutely believe what they're doing.

Speaker 3 They're so in it when they're like, they call it at school, they call it dramatic play. And I kind of feel like that just what happens is I'm in the scene and then I just believe it's happening.

Speaker 1 And the tears come in.

Speaker 1 Sometimes if the mood is right, Scotty and I call it role playing. Instead of dramatic play.

Speaker 1 That's definitely for a different, definitely for a different show.

Speaker 3 And then you believe it's happening, Sean.

Speaker 1 You believe it happened. I do.
I didn't order this pizza. Well, what do you mean? Are you not hungry? I didn't say you could just come into my apartment, but you're here now.

Speaker 1 This is a meat lover's pizza. I'm confused.

Speaker 1 I love meat.

Speaker 1 Do you find that you spend all this emotion, like you're on stage, you're bawling for an hour, and then you get home into your life and stuff happens, and you've got no emotion left for anything else?

Speaker 3 No, in fact, I'm like the opposite, which probably my poor family and friends have been so sweet with me.

Speaker 3 I just become so kind of raw that I'm like a little bit like a baby where like things that shouldn't make me emotional make me emotional. And it just, I start to feel like I'm losing my mind.

Speaker 3 Which is why now I'm looking forward to another Zero Dark 30, like, you know, playing a character who really doesn't. Am I allowed to cuss on this? I mean, I've heard before about

Speaker 3 a woman who doesn't give a shit. Just is like, I'm, you know, she's just walking through.

Speaker 1 I need to play that next i love that you asked if you could cuss you're the first nice you're the first nice respectful guest we've had

Speaker 3 was it always part of your life growing up too were you and as a kid were you in high school it was my grandma took me to see a play when i was seven i didn't have the easiest of you know childhoods in some sense because we were you know i was raised by a single mom and um she really struggled a lot financially and um

Speaker 3 and i was kind of an angry kid a lot and so my grandma took me to this show at the music circus theater in sacramento california it was joseph and the amazing technicolor dream coat awesome

Speaker 3 and uh there was a and she told me she could because it was a big deal it was a professional show she kept saying that they were these this was their job these actors and then it started and there was a little girl on stage and i was like oh

Speaker 3 This is what I am. It wasn't in a sense of like, this is what I want to be.
I was like, oh, this is what I'm going to do. And

Speaker 3 I just spent like my poor mom was like, can you bring me to LA to audition for commercials?

Speaker 1 Like from that moment on. Wait, how old were you when your grandma took you you to that? Seven.
Yeah, because

Speaker 1 I saw a chorus line when I was 10, and I always wish I'd seen it earlier, like when I was like, I don't know, five, six, seven, eight. Oh, oh, my God.

Speaker 1 Wonderful.

Speaker 1 I had to recycle it out.

Speaker 2 He can set himself up and hit it all night.

Speaker 1 That was really cool. I'm so happy about that.

Speaker 1 He's like got a one-man volleyball team. He loves it, and then he spikes it himself.

Speaker 1 But I do want to say, you know what, you know what's interesting to Chris to me, how many kids, their first introduction to theater is Joseph and the Technicolor Coat. I know, right? Right? I mean,

Speaker 1 that's like the sort of the

Speaker 1 way

Speaker 1 one of the. Because it's like safe for high schools to do and it's safe for like kids.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and kids, a lot of kids go and see, they'll go see it with their family or they'll go see it with their school or like in.

Speaker 1 My question is, do we need to update

Speaker 1 what that is?

Speaker 3 Yeah. I don't even remember what happens in the show.
That's the sad thing. I think that's the one and only time I ever saw it.

Speaker 1 You know what? It was the first play I think I saw. Oh, really?

Speaker 2 I saw it in black and white, though.

Speaker 1 Oh, no.

Speaker 2 What was the one with the roller skating? Starlight Express?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Remember that one way back when?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think that was my first one.

Speaker 1 And then some cats. Then there were some

Speaker 1 roller skating. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And a lot of siblings, Jess, in your family, or just you?

Speaker 3 Yeah, two boys and two girls.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow. And

Speaker 1 I was the oldest. You're one of five.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 1 One of five. And your youngest?

Speaker 3 My youngest brother is 24.

Speaker 1 Oh, so are you in the middle? I'm the oldest. No, she's the oldest.
Oh, you're the oldest.

Speaker 2 Sorry, sorry. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Now, so, so, so then the acting, was it something that came, because you started so early, did it, was it something that came very naturally to you, or did you start training early on?

Speaker 3 It's something

Speaker 3 because I went to public schools, I just remember like they would assign the plays in schools to the people who got really good grades, and I didn't get good

Speaker 1 grades.

Speaker 3 So it was always like the person on the side or holding the the tree or whatever. And then we got to middle school.

Speaker 1 Not even the tree, just holding the tree.

Speaker 3 I know, just like holding it up. And then we got to middle school and it was the first time we started like, you know, having a class, the elective, where you could choose what class you wanted.

Speaker 3 And I chose the drama class. And then, you know, that's when I really started doing stuff.
I actually won a monologue competition.

Speaker 3 And I have a little, the little trophy for it.

Speaker 3 And I actually had, it's like, that to me is one of the most, is the sweetest things in my house because um I think I was like 12 or 13 and it was a big deal it was first I was like wow I actually people think I'm yeah I'm good at this right yeah yeah

Speaker 1 you know what's interesting though so you grew up in Sacramento

Speaker 1 not exactly like a hotbed for theater and right but but you go you see that play like how do you make that leap from being a little girl in Sacramento who sees a play and is super saying that's me to

Speaker 3 I don't want to jump all the way to becoming an Academy Award-winning actress but like what's that first move you're like in Sacramento like I got to go from here to what yeah well I mean I was going I had no idea because I don't know anyone in the industry yeah and again you know it was a kind of a it was a tough situation you know at home and I was doing a lot of community theater and working at Sac City College doing like their Shakespeare I think I did Tami Near the Shrew and all of this stuff and then I I actually dropped out of high school, which is crazy.

Speaker 3 I dropped out of high school. I had to take PE twice.
And I think I didn't graduate because I missed, and because I failed PE twice.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 3 Because I had no interest

Speaker 3 in doing pull-ups.

Speaker 3 I just had like, no. And I

Speaker 3 was reading, you know, Shakespeare.

Speaker 3 in cutting class three.

Speaker 3 I was such a nerd. Wow.
I'm probably, yeah, I can't even understand it. But I dropped out and then I started working and I did some regional theater.

Speaker 3 I played Juliet at Theater Works in Silicon Valley. And then the guy who was playing Romeo got into Juilliard.
And I was like, I don't think he's that much better than me.

Speaker 1 So maybe I could go. Right.

Speaker 1 Did you? I did. Oh, wow.
Great. Yeah.
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 Wait, going back to high school,

Speaker 1 I remember in my high school, there was a thing called, like, the debate team called, it was called forensics.

Speaker 3 I did that

Speaker 1 of course you did because like everybody i knew in high school did it i didn't do it and it freaked me out because what is it work sean it's like a it's like when you are in a debate team and they teach you how to debate like improv debate right right right and um no they don't people

Speaker 1 yes they do

Speaker 1 and um and i it freaked me out it was my first experience watching kids my age face a wall and talk to the wall because they would be rehearsing yeah i was like

Speaker 1 are they crazy? Like, it was like,

Speaker 1 it was like a mental institution.

Speaker 3 And also different voices because you play different characters and they're narrate.

Speaker 1 And they, yeah, yeah, it was wild. How funny, by the way, for the listener, how funny, and you guys can attest to this, are, and weird, are,

Speaker 1 Jason just said, audition lobby is like when you remember going to like into an audition, into a casting office, and everybody's holding their sides and people are like, find like a little corner or they're sitting on the edge of a chair and they're just going, I don't know what.

Speaker 1 They're talking about going over their thing, going over their beats, going over what they're doing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, their faces, their thing that they, like their little angle, their little beat that they've got on the thing that they're going to do.

Speaker 1 And then you get older and you do it like the four of us as a profession, and then you find yourself doing it and you're like, oh, well, now it's not so weird because I'm doing it. I don't know.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 You know? Yeah.

Speaker 2 And we will be right back.

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Speaker 1 And now back to the show.

Speaker 1 So Jessica, so you were all in.

Speaker 2 So you go to Juilliard. There was no other sort of like, you didn't go to like a college where you had, well, I'll major in drama, but I'll minor in business or something.

Speaker 1 But JB, I'll interrupt to say also, not just that, Jessica, you got, didn't you get the Robin Williams scholarship at Juilliard as well?

Speaker 3 Oh, wow. Yeah, so it was, that was actually a huge deal financially for us because he went to Juilliard and he was...

Speaker 3 everyone you know that talks about him such a generous human being

Speaker 3 and he gave the scholarship every two years and it basically it it paid for everything didn't just pay for tuition it paid for my apartment it paid for me to fly back and forth to go see my family at Christmas.

Speaker 3 It paid for food.

Speaker 3 It was a ginormous.

Speaker 1 He was an incredibly generous guy.

Speaker 1 Did you guys know Robin a little bit? I met him, only shook his hand once.

Speaker 1 I had the pleasure of spending a little bit of time with him

Speaker 1 over the years a few times, and he was an incredibly generous, sweet, sweet guy. I mean, anytime you check in with anybody who knows him.
So it doesn't surprise me that he he did.

Speaker 1 I mean, that's so thoughtful. And as a young person and going to do this thing and going to New York, those kinds of expenses are just tough to cover.
Yeah. For anybody.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And to have somebody do that. So then you get to go to Juilliard.

Speaker 2 And then how do they assign that scholarship? Obviously, those that need the economic assistance

Speaker 2 are the candidates. But I imagine that there's some sort of a, is there like an act off?

Speaker 1 Like an officer sporting event for like gladiators.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Was there any sort of

Speaker 1 acting off since I was like 12?

Speaker 3 I don't think so. I mean, the first two years, it was a lot of, you know, loans, you know, like those Sally Mae loans.
I was just, I had borrowed so much money to try to sustain it. I was in the dorm.

Speaker 3 And then

Speaker 3 the scholarship went to your final two years. Gotcha.
And I think it just was based on the work you had done your first two years. So

Speaker 3 I played, I don't know, I played Arcadina and the Seagull as my final project my second year and it went over well with the teachers and maybe that might have had something to do with it.

Speaker 3 I don't know, but it was a big deal.

Speaker 1 So I'm sorry, I may have missed this. I apologize.
You're one of five kids. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And was it a single mom or?

Speaker 3 Single mom.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Exact same situation. No.
Yeah, five kids. Single mom.

Speaker 2 But in fairness, did your mom have two eyes, Jessica?

Speaker 1 Because this is where it's not oranges to oranges.

Speaker 1 Please answer the question if you have two eyes.

Speaker 3 Were you the eldest in your family, Sean?

Speaker 1 Youngest. Youngest.
Youngest, yeah. She had to keep an eye on five.

Speaker 1 Guys, I got a lot. It's been a year and a half.
JB, did you get that text I sent you about when my sister posted?

Speaker 2 Did you get the one-eyed crying emoji?

Speaker 1 Well, Jessica, my mom had

Speaker 1 you go, you go, Will.

Speaker 1 Sean's mom had one eye her whole life. And

Speaker 1 we've talked about it extensively on the program. But when Sean won the Tony His Sister put on Facebook, my mom should be so happy she'd be crying her eye out.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 You know, you either laugh or cry, Jessica. Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1 That's really good. Yeah.

Speaker 1 That's interesting, though. So you guys do have very sort of similar experiences in that way.
And then you both end up in the theater.

Speaker 1 Yeah. That's right.

Speaker 1 Why didn't you go to Juilliard? Jesus, Jessica. What's the wrong with you? What's wrong with you? Because I can't spell it.

Speaker 1 G-U.

Speaker 1 What's that feeling like when you come out? So you go to Juilliard, which is arguably like the most

Speaker 1 sort of acclaimed, certainly in America,

Speaker 1 theater school. You come out of their art school.
You come out of there. And is the feeling like,

Speaker 1 all right, I'm just ready to go and everything's just going to.

Speaker 1 Offers are going to fly at me. Like, I always wonder what that experience is like coming out of an acting school in that way.

Speaker 3 Well, I was very lucky. I got a deal.
So my class was the first one to do a LA showcase.

Speaker 3 And actually I brought it to the administration because I had come to Los Angeles December before, the fourth year, and found out that other schools were doing it.

Speaker 3 And then I really, really pushed for it.

Speaker 3 And we got it. So by coming out here and doing the showcase, I got from that, I got a deal with John Wells.
And

Speaker 3 so it was very helpful. It was like right out of the bat,

Speaker 3 I had someone kind of in my corner. And then I could, you know, do plays in New York.

Speaker 3 Like I worked at Playwrights Horizon and I'd fly back and forth to Los Angeles to audition for his shows and whatnot. But I made that money last for like four years.

Speaker 1 That's amazing. Cause I think, Will, like what you...

Speaker 1 what you were kind of saying is like and to me too growing up you think juilliard is the pinnacle of all you know is the best of the best and you just just like me idiot me just assumes every single person that graduates from juilliard whether it's music or art or theater or, you know, whatever, gets a job, you know, and it's like, so it, it's, it's wild to, um,

Speaker 1 yeah, like graduation day, they're like, all right, here are the parts that we're going to be handing out today. Right.
That's doing this thing for Paramount. You're going to be shooting at that.

Speaker 1 Right, right.

Speaker 2 So, so, Jessica, I mean, like, is it,

Speaker 2 you, you seem like you're still very aware of your upbringings and your journey and that you're, you're fully appreciative of where you are.

Speaker 2 Like, it, thank God, it doesn't seem like it's lost on you that your whole life, you have seen this path, you've wanted this path, you've trained for it,

Speaker 2 you've respected what it's going to take to get there, you've done everything that you should, and you've done it. I mean, you're there.

Speaker 1 You've got an Oscar.

Speaker 2 You're like one of the most respected actors in the world. Like that's got to feel fantastic.
And I don't want to embarrass you. And I don't expect you to sort of say, yeah, yeah, it's awesome.

Speaker 2 But how about like, is your mom still with us? Are your siblings like?

Speaker 3 And my grandma, I took my grandma to the Tony's the other night.

Speaker 1 No way. So they awesome.

Speaker 1 She had a sweltering Tony.

Speaker 1 She's like, when's Joseph coming out? Exactly.

Speaker 2 Are they, do they, do they help you take

Speaker 2 your very, very deserving

Speaker 2 smell of the roses every once in a while?

Speaker 3 Oh, yes, completely. But also, too,

Speaker 3 I think, because it doesn't feel that far away and you know a lot of my life was a little bit of like, okay, I know what I'm going to do i don't know how i'm going to get there exactly but i'm very aware of the people who show me a lot of kindness and actually jason i don't even think you remember uh oh

Speaker 1 you took me i'm sorry let me just start with i'm sorry no no i'm gonna talk about how kind you were i have addiction issues just no no no no no jason don't admit too much okay sorry sorry until you know the charges my boyfriend was Ned Benson.

Speaker 3 Ned Benson. So you do remember.
You took me to a Dodgers game with Ned.

Speaker 3 It was the first time I was like sitting there and I was like, I have never, I mean, I was so close to the players and I'd never experienced anything like that before.

Speaker 3 When we were so kind.

Speaker 2 20 years ago?

Speaker 3 Yeah, a long time ago. Before anyone even cared anything about anybody.

Speaker 1 Or me or Ned. I mean, Jason didn't care.
He didn't even bring it up. He's been talking to you for half an hour and you had to bring it up.
How embarrassing.

Speaker 2 You wonder if people remember things.

Speaker 1 Can I talk to you for one second?

Speaker 1 You don't know what the guest wants to talk about. It's her show.

Speaker 1 By the way, he just did us a favor because he did, that shows a sign of respect out of Jason that he didn't just bring the Dodgers up and talk about them for 20 minutes

Speaker 1 because he would love to do that. Or Ned.
Or Ned. Or Ned.
Love Ned. So, Jessica, because we had similar backgrounds,

Speaker 1 is that part of,

Speaker 2 you know,

Speaker 1 some people think it's not cool to talk about drive or ambition, but everybody has it who has any, even the smallest amount of success. You have to have some drive.
Yeah,

Speaker 2 why does that get a bad rap? Like, you're supposed to want things in this life, yeah, and then you're supposed, then you get mocked for actually pursuing them.

Speaker 1 And then, if you don't, then you're called lazy and

Speaker 1 unmotivated and entitled.

Speaker 3 I wonder if it's that people mistake drive, ambition for ego, for like narcissism.

Speaker 3 When in reality, like my drive and ambition comes from,

Speaker 3 I mean, we're going to get real deep here. Maybe it comes from a sense of like wanting to be better and maybe that also comes from my upbringing a sense of like I want to be

Speaker 3 better than

Speaker 1 I you know I just want to get better every day just to see how much better you can get it's just challenging yourself right yeah and it's not like I want it all it's just I want to do a good job see if I can do more or take on more or talk yeah I mean this all falls under the heading of challenge yourself probably right I mean and and if you're not I suspect everybody here is is the same in this way that

Speaker 1 for instance i constantly say like oh you know i'm just gonna retire i'm just too tired and stuff and then i think like i couldn't do it for six hours because i just it's not that i get bored but i just want to that's the whole purpose of life is to engage and to challenge yourself and to be constantly right i mean yeah and hopefully you're constantly in a in a state of having the courage to ask for more because i oftentimes i've been in a place of oh my god i can't thank god i'm not being asked to bear any responsibility because I just don't have the ego or the confidence to take it on right now.

Speaker 1 Like

Speaker 2 I've been in that place a lot of times in my life. And if you find yourself in a place of like, no, please let the phone ring.

Speaker 2 I want the ball.

Speaker 2 That's a great place to be. That's a gift and that's a positive.

Speaker 1 Sean, do you want the ball? Sure. Or both.

Speaker 1 A couple of them.

Speaker 1 Jessica,

Speaker 1 let me ask you this, because I've been going through

Speaker 1 this lately, which is, you know, I'm 53 and I think you look great. You look amazing.

Speaker 1 I was trying to elicit

Speaker 1 Thank you. I was thinking,

Speaker 3 I mean, you can tell that you hang out a lot.

Speaker 3 You work out a lot.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's real. The tan is real.

Speaker 1 No, this is this one's new, by the way. I think it works.
I can tell it. It looks like it really.
I think I rotate it. I forget how I get this one.

Speaker 1 But I've been having this thing lately where I'm working on stuff for doing things, and I've been able to say, I think I was saying to you, Jay, maybe the other day that

Speaker 1 I can admit that I'm like scared

Speaker 1 because I'm about to do something, you know, that is maybe out of my comfort zone a little bit.

Speaker 1 And I think when I was a younger man, I had a tougher time admitting that, or I wasn't involved enough, or I wasn't mature enough.

Speaker 1 And I wonder if you have those things because you do a lot of things that are very challenging, certainly when it comes to your work. Do you have those moments now as you get older where you go, like,

Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm scared about this, or I'm nervous,

Speaker 1 not that

Speaker 1 you're not going to do it, but that you recognize that. Do you have that at all?

Speaker 3 Are you asking me? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yes, I, I, I,

Speaker 3 I mean, it's also the sense of because I don't feel far away from how I grew up. I always want to feel like I'm grateful and thankful.
So I don't, I, I find laziness the

Speaker 3 in my, who I am, I find it to be the worst trait.

Speaker 3 And I also have difficulty with lazy, you know, if someone's super lazy, I have difficulty being around it because I feel like, wow, you know, you could do so much.

Speaker 3 You could do, you know, there's all these incredible things out there that you could be a part of if you just showed up, show up for yourself and show up, you know, for others.

Speaker 3 And so I have that in me where it's, it's like, even if I'm really scared, if there's someone that believes that I can do it, I don't want to let them down.

Speaker 3 And I really want to push myself and I don't want to allow my any kind of nerves or fear.

Speaker 3 And especially especially with Tammy Faye I had so much fear of like oh my god this is such a swing like and I'm gonna get made

Speaker 3 so but this idea of like crushed it I I can't like

Speaker 1 allow and that's ego actually if you allow your ego to stop you from doing something right because it's all about how you're perceived but do you think yeah interesting but but at the same time but is it ego is it ego I'm asking I'm actually like wondering maybe you guys jump in if is it ego to acknowledge that fear

Speaker 2 Meaning a good, a good thing or a bad thing?

Speaker 1 Yeah, like just to go like, hey, this is something that's really challenging and I need to, and I'm, and just recognizing it. Maybe it's.

Speaker 2 I think it would take a healthy ego to admit that something is presenting a challenge to you. And I think, but it is also that same ego that's going to be the fuel to push you through it.

Speaker 2 And that the, and that you shouldn't be nervous about the fact that you're not feeling the confidence to run into the situation because the confidence lives on the back side of the accomplishment.

Speaker 2 It's like, no, the confidence will be there once I get through it.

Speaker 1 You know, that's what I'm going to earn.

Speaker 2 So don't, don't take it as a false negative. It would be a false negative to think, oh, God, I can't handle this because I'm not feeling confident going into it.

Speaker 2 The confidence lives after it, I think, for me.

Speaker 1 For sure. For sure.
Totally. Very well.

Speaker 3 If you're confident while you're doing it, if I am, I find that the work is probably bad.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Anxiety is a good, good gas. Yeah, when you're like, yeah, I got this, man.

Speaker 1 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 I am petrified before every single performance. Is that true?

Speaker 2 Petrified. That makes you great.

Speaker 1 Well, I don't know about that, but I just like.

Speaker 1 Okay, Tony winner. No, no, no.
I'm being, thanks. It makes you great.

Speaker 1 But thanks. But I'm just saying, it's a true.
I don't know if it does.

Speaker 1 So I'm agreeing with you, Sean. We've seen the show.

Speaker 1 But wait, I want to touch. So, Jessica, like back to like

Speaker 1 when I was a kid, I was just, I'm asking you if you felt felt the same thing. When I was a kid, I had,

Speaker 1 you know, my dad left and my mom was always working. She was great, but you were kind of left a parent yourself.

Speaker 1 And so you kind of are given this option of figuring this life out on your own or kind of just taking a back seat to it. And I think that decision at some point was like, wait a minute, no one's.

Speaker 1 I have to figure, I have to take care of myself and figure this out for myself. So, and I, and I've taken that into adulthood where it's just like, and I think for better or worse, sometimes worse,

Speaker 1 I don't stop. Like,

Speaker 1 I got to get food on the table. I got to eat.

Speaker 1 I got to, because I've been so, there's been so many times when I didn't have food and I didn't have, you know, so it's a, it's a fear as much as it is a drive.

Speaker 3 Wow, we have very similar upbringings, Sean. It's crazy.

Speaker 1 It should be noted, Sean, you feed yourself the same way you did when you were 11, which is just tuna salad, potato chips, and saccarini and cheese. Don't forget about the next one.
So true.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so true. By the way, on my corner of my building, there is an ice cream truck every single day and a fruit stand.
And I passed that fruit stand. Yeah.

Speaker 1 I don't even look at the poor guy.

Speaker 2 Yeah, do you guys find, Jessica and Sean, that

Speaker 2 you're not great at asking for help, that you're not great at sort of deferring or delegating because you've had to sort of be self-sufficient for so long?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I do. I tend to do everything.
And to the point where then I get completely overwhelmed. And I think because I was the oldest child too,

Speaker 3 there was a sense of having to take care of my,

Speaker 1 I almost said my kids, my siblings.

Speaker 3 You know, my mom would bartend and it would be like us there, you know. So it was really a sense of

Speaker 3 trying to figure out, you know, how everyone was going to be okay.

Speaker 3 So I think I also have that now, even as like, if this is too much, and my friends are like, okay, settle down, chastain. But I try to like, if someone has an issue, I'm like, okay, let's solve it.

Speaker 3 Let's figure it out.

Speaker 1 Let's, you know, and I've had to understand that everyone has the dignity of their own process yes and i allow them to have their own life i'm so similar and these guys can attest to it i'm like they're like hey should we i'm on it i'm like i'll get it i'll take care of it sean sean we'll get we'll get an email about some work thing and and it'll be like a long email that'll have maybe 12 points to it that most people would be like let's talk about it and think about it maybe for 24 hours i'm not even going to read this email yet yeah yeah sean within within five minutes is like yes and no and yes and we should do this and i'm like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 1 Right, Sean, and I, and I do say to Sean, Sean and I are talking, I go, it's okay. You can just take a beat.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Let's think about it. Yeah.
But do you learn that? Do you?

Speaker 2 No, don't, because it is so helpful that you answer the best.

Speaker 1 It is the best. No, I love it.
It's the greatest. Yeah.

Speaker 1 We'll be right back.

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Speaker 1 And now back to the show.

Speaker 2 Now, what about,

Speaker 2 I like to ask actors that have had the pleasure of working with so many incredible directors if there's any desire to direct because you've been exposed to so much great directing and

Speaker 2 perhaps has armed you with sort of cherry-picking a bunch of different

Speaker 2 techniques that you'd want to see what you could do?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I mean I've had thoughts about doing it, especially when I've met, there's certain actors that I've met and I was like, oh, I really want to do something for this person.

Speaker 3 And I've thought about, or like, I've never seen a story about this before and I would love to tell that story. And then

Speaker 3 I think about, well, wait wait a minute when you're directing you got it's gonna take you a year and a half for of your life

Speaker 3 uh where i usually make like five films in that time

Speaker 3 you know and and so it's a pay cut yeah yeah yeah and not even necessarily just that it's also that maybe i have a sense of in in the same way of my personal life i feel like i have to do everything i want to do everything wow what's it going to be when i really have to be like i'm only allowed to do this one thing for so long yeah jay actually this goes to both you Jessica and Jason.

Speaker 1 Do you, because Jay, you do that when you take a year to go and work on a film and direct it, do you miss

Speaker 1 getting that variety? And Jessica, on the back side of that is, do you, you say you would do five films.

Speaker 1 Is that something you like, you like that constant change and that kind of that you're working on a film for three months and then you're working on something completely different for another three months?

Speaker 1 Do you,

Speaker 1 is that something that you're cognizant of?

Speaker 2 You go, Jessica.

Speaker 3 I would love, I mean, I trained,

Speaker 3 I trained in repertory theater, so I love the idea. And it would be amazing also in theater to be able to do this where one night you're one part and the next night you're another part.
Maybe like

Speaker 1 Philip Seymour Hoffman and

Speaker 3 Jesse Riley for, yeah, you saw that too? We are theater nerds.

Speaker 3 Even like doing different plays, like having an ensemble, and then like every night you get to do something else. I feel like

Speaker 3 that was the hard part for me of being on broad, being on this run for so long. It was the constant sense of like, this is the journey, this, I'm on this journey every day.

Speaker 3 And it would be nice to kind of go on the flip side and say, like, okay, now maybe on Tuesdays, I get to do this kind of thing and explore something else.

Speaker 2 Well, for you and for Sean, did you guys ever get, and Sean, you're still in the midst of it, you ever get to the point where it's feeling so monotonous that you are very deliberate about making tonight different?

Speaker 2 Like, I'm going to play this scene jealous instead of insecure, or I'm going to, like, a completely different energy and not tell any of the other actors, but just pace and intention and everything just still works.

Speaker 1 Well, I think the actors would really appreciate that.

Speaker 2 Well, I mean, it doesn't have to be a 180, but something that is that is just change.

Speaker 1 The look from your fellow actor, like, on the stage, like, man, what the fuck are you? You're painting me in a corner here, man.

Speaker 1 But, Jay, do you miss that? Do I? I mean, do you miss the variety? Do you miss that change when you're working

Speaker 1 for a year?

Speaker 2 Nah, because I just, I geek out on all the processes of directing, you know, crap and post and all that stuff. But, but, um,

Speaker 1 uh,

Speaker 2 I feel like if I was on stage doing the same part for months on end, I would, I would probably screw things up a little bit on purpose or start to get excited about, oh, who's going to forget a line tonight?

Speaker 2 You know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Because you miss that.

Speaker 1 Like, you miss getting that like you could say it here if you want the chord you like to get strange like to get some strange yeah yeah you get some strange when it comes to work we got

Speaker 1 an animal dude what about Jessica what about that what Jason was saying

Speaker 3 uh I've worked with someone who is like that it's frustrating to work with someone I mean on film it's great it's great you know I've like with actors where you're like every it's still the same scene but there's all these we're discovering new paths through the scene and and who knows where the the take's going to go.

Speaker 3 That's exciting. But I feel like when the show is set, it's set.

Speaker 1 Too disruptive.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I would, sometimes when someone's done it, it feels kind of almost self-serving because it's like, well, wait a minute, there's still a whole other journey we have to go on.

Speaker 3 And now you've kind of taken out this marker. How are we going to get there?

Speaker 2 That would be a fun war to watch if you were privy to it by being another cast member and you can watch two, like, oh, it happens.

Speaker 2 Yeah, she just saw that he's trying to do a 180 on this thing.

Speaker 2 Oh, now she's going to double that 180 yeah yeah yeah yeah and then who's who's who who chastises an actor the stage manager yeah usually they're sort of the cop it's ongoing right because if you i don't think the listener knows this but if you start messing around with the dialogue you get like reported to equity and equity can find you if you start messing around with with changing lines and stuff like that i don't know about that isn't there I think the stage manager is like obligated to report you if you start going rogue and and changing stuff it sounds like you've snitched before

Speaker 1 Yeah, fine.

Speaker 1 You know the thing about snitches. You know what they get.
What happened? What was

Speaker 1 stitches, bro? Oh, shit. Sorry, go ahead, Jessica.
What happened?

Speaker 3 You found out? No, I found out, I was talking to the director, and he said that every night he gets a report.

Speaker 3 He got a report because we closed, where it was like, even like when an actor coughs, it said when the actor coughs.

Speaker 1 I know. They write down every single thing that happens in every show.
Yeah. Wait, what?

Speaker 1 And the producers get to read it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah. So you're very aware.
I mean, it's tough sometimes because I do find like in

Speaker 3 there's a misconception about acting where someone's like, okay, the more different they are each take, the better actor they are because they're so alive, you know?

Speaker 3 And so I think people are trying to be sometimes

Speaker 3 make things alive and exciting,

Speaker 3 but they don't realize in theater that that can be disruptive.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, yeah.
And in film too, and Jay, you've been through this. I've certainly been through this

Speaker 1 in post where you're like, hey did this guy ever do one take where he held the thing the same way two times oh yeah how are you killing me i can't get out i can't edit this scene what is he doing but it's okay like jay to what you were saying i think it's okay in a play to

Speaker 1 play within the choices that are locked yes you know um within the play that is locked you can experiment but not enough to throw like there's this great um there's this um john jurjetsky who plays george gershwin in our play he's brilliant everybody's brilliant in the show.

Speaker 1 But he's so great at playing within the locked thing. He's brilliant.
And one night, it almost made me laugh. He goes, Aki, you know, Oscar, who wants to hear your music, right? And I say,

Speaker 1 he's a vision in my head. He's a ghost, the ghost of Gershwin.
And I say, lots of folks, that's who. And he goes, and the line is, who? Your wife, the kid in the lab coat? Right.

Speaker 1 And one night he goes, out of nowhere,

Speaker 1 I go, he goes, who wants to hear that? Your own music? I go, lots of folks. That's who.
And he goes, who?

Speaker 1 You got your wife. You got your kid in the lab coat.

Speaker 1 And then he just goes like this. Right.
And

Speaker 1 it almost made me die laughing. Oh, my God.
But it was good because it was within the realm of the character. But like he was listening and he goes, okay, your wife.

Speaker 1 Sure. In the lab coat.
And I was like,

Speaker 3 you know, Michael Shannon's really good at that too. Yeah.

Speaker 3 You know, I've worked with him a lot and I'm mostly on camera.

Speaker 3 So he doesn't go, he's in working with him is like a, it's like kind of working with an animal because you're like, what is he going to do? But it's always within the structure.

Speaker 3 And he comes from theater as well. Yeah.
And it's really like,

Speaker 3 it's amazing when you work when you're working with an actor who knows where the story has to be the most important. It's not yourself.
That's what it is. It's about whether or not you're selfish.

Speaker 3 Because if you're changing it for yourself because you want to feel feel something new or you're bored, that's not appropriate.

Speaker 3 But if you're telling, you have to tell the story that everyone's there to tell.

Speaker 1 Exactly.

Speaker 1 I killed Michael Shannon

Speaker 1 in a movie. In a movie once.
With a gun? No, no, no. I stabbed him in the throat.
You stabbed Michael Shannon in the throat? In the throat in Let's Go to Prison 20 years ago with the Michael Shift.

Speaker 1 Bob Odenkirk. Bob Odenkirk.
How did he take that? Like a man. He took it pretty well.
I remember Bob being like, okay, so Michael, oh, my God. So you're just going to grab.

Speaker 1 I'm like, wait, how are we going to do this scene? Like, Michael is so scary. He's the best actor.
He's such a great guy. But I was like, I have to stab him in the throat.

Speaker 1 And he just, he did all the work. I just kind of did the motion.
And he was incredible. He's a bunch of apologizing.

Speaker 1 He was the best.

Speaker 1 I feel like we'll be remiss if we don't ask it. I'm going to ask, usually, Sean, at this point, has already asked, you've done so much theater.
Oh, yes. What's your favorite nightmare theater?

Speaker 1 How did you not ask Jessica Chelsea? How did I not ask that question? Oh, God.

Speaker 3 My favorite nightmare story that happened to me on stage?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 All right, I can say it now because we're closed.

Speaker 1 This is really gross. Great.

Speaker 1 Gross or the bed. I threw up.
Wow. What?

Speaker 3 In a doll's house? I threw up and I swallowed it.

Speaker 1 Oh, God.

Speaker 1 At a girl. No way.
And no one knew. And then.

Speaker 1 Because of what? Because of acid reflux or something? No, it's a bad performance. You're in a coastal.
What's your name?

Speaker 3 I think I, and then from then on, I was like, I'm not eating within three hours of the show. I'm drinking water.
Yeah, it's crazy. I

Speaker 3 see, I don't know if I was nervous. I was like, kind of like sobbing, and I like leaned over and it happened.

Speaker 3 And then for the rest, and I was like, oh my God, you know, you can't let it out of your mouth. And then

Speaker 3 for the rest of the show, I couldn't tell anyone because I was on a chair facing the audience the whole time.

Speaker 1 You have any intimate scenes after that?

Speaker 3 I had to kiss someone. Sure.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 3 Yes. It was a nightmare and I couldn't explain.
And then the second we had the curtain call and

Speaker 3 the curtain came down i said you guys i'm so sorry i vomited

Speaker 1 that that's so crazy because jason didn't you ever think for a long time that that women would barf after they kissed you right yeah yeah which is better yeah i guess but jessica that's

Speaker 1 insane

Speaker 2 was it uh can i ask was it an open-mouth kiss that you had to do on stage

Speaker 3 No, that night it was definitely a closed mouth kiss.

Speaker 3 You know, it's supposed to be kind of like, it wasn't a sensual, it wasn't like a really sexy, like, we're about to sleep, you know, but it was, you know, a sensual kiss that was.

Speaker 3 And that night, I was like, oh, I mean, even talking to anyone, I was just so

Speaker 1 I have to, in the show, I have to

Speaker 1 scream in front of this guy, Peter Gross, who's a brilliant, also brilliant in the show.

Speaker 1 And we get in a screaming match, and we're literally nose to nose.

Speaker 1 And one night, I don't know what happened. It was just like a couple weeks ago.
So much saliva came spewing from my mouth. It was all over his face as I'm came in.

Speaker 1 And then that night after he goes, he was so sweet about it. He goes, hey, can I talk to you about that one time?

Speaker 1 And I go, yeah. And he goes, is there any way that you could spit just a little less when we argue? I was like, absolutely.
Absolutely. He was so sweet about it.
It was like a tick explosion, right?

Speaker 3 Yeah, but it's really funny because it's obviously not something you had control over. It wasn't like you thought like, oh, I'm going to really go to town and skip

Speaker 3 saliva all over his face tonight.

Speaker 1 No, no, but he was right.

Speaker 1 I actually can control it now. Now that he's brought it up, I actually figured it out.

Speaker 3 Let me ask you, if he hadn't brought it up, would you have continued doing it?

Speaker 1 Great question. Spitting that much? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Probably not. I probably, I know what he meant.
I know what he meant. It was like,

Speaker 1 it was like spitting out. Oh, my God.
Poor guy's covered in sloppy Joe and Shin Shin.

Speaker 1 Sean, did you get Shin Chin flown out? Sorry, go ahead, Jason.

Speaker 2 I was just going to ask Jessica, now that the show is done, you're going to take some time off. I would assume you're going to start doing the thing you're second best at,

Speaker 2 which is

Speaker 2 probably as good, probably a lot of parenting. But like, what about the,

Speaker 2 is there a hobby? Is there something that we would be surprised to learn that you're almost at as good at?

Speaker 1 Backstage.

Speaker 3 No, I'm not good at anything else. That's the thing.

Speaker 1 Come on, that's not true.

Speaker 3 I mean, I have a production company and

Speaker 1 that doesn't count. We're talking about

Speaker 1 non-business like we're talking about pickleball,

Speaker 1 painting, cooking, baking.

Speaker 3 Okay, I went to cooking school.

Speaker 1 What? Yes.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I went to school. So after Zero Dark 30, I was like, I want to do something completely different.
I went to cooking school.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 so I'm a good cook.

Speaker 1 I'm just

Speaker 1 a good cook. What kind of cookie? Saucy stuff.

Speaker 3 I love the kind of, I like roasting and I like the kind of cooking that the whole house, it's like a slow cook situation. So for hours, it'll be like the smell of

Speaker 3 something like, like I love poached pears with sweet potato ice cream and,

Speaker 1 you know, that kind of stuff. That sounds good.
You make the ice cream?

Speaker 3 Yeah. Really? It's like the fall cooking, you know, that kind of like it's starting to get cold outside.

Speaker 1 And then the house. Remember that? Yeah.
Oh, I know. Wait a minute.
Wait, you make ice cream? I'm always fascinated. I kind of like it.

Speaker 3 In an ice cream maker. I mean, it's very easy.

Speaker 1 I got to get one of those.

Speaker 3 Oh, you do. It's so easy.
It takes 30 minutes.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, I wouldn't. That sounds like a real slippery slide.

Speaker 1 Come on. It sounds kind of legitimately.
We're going to have to cut you out of your house at some point.

Speaker 1 Hey, hey, Jessica, I think that you should do like a food line, I think, or like cookbooks or something. I think it'd be pretty massive.

Speaker 1 You think so? Sure. I do.
Just fall cooking.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 With Jesse Boo.

Speaker 3 Jesse Boo.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's your title. I love it.

Speaker 3 I don't know that it would be super interesting to watch, especially if it's like, it's be like a four-hour show where you're just like, let's look at it in the oven.

Speaker 1 No, but if you did,

Speaker 1 if you did like a book, if you did like a cookbook and did some stuff and did a line of food, I think it would do real, real well.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 3 All right. Well, maybe, maybe that's my second chapter.

Speaker 1 And you could call it like juke, right? J-O-O-C.

Speaker 1 Kind of like goop, but you know.

Speaker 3 Juke. After talking about vomiting on the stage, I could open with that and then say, listen, it's so good you could.
No, I don't.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. My cookie is so good.
You can tweet it twice. There you go.

Speaker 2 We've got it.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. Listen, we have monopolized.
I've just realized we could have just, we could just keep talking, but we're crushing you in time and you need to go on vacation. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Thank you for visiting with us, Jessica.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Jessica,

Speaker 1 so much.

Speaker 3 I was so happy to.

Speaker 3 to um when i got asked to do this i of course listened to the uh kate blanchette one and go yeah i love how much you all tease Sean for being as equally as as theater nerdy as all of us good yeah I love a big smile he's not just theater nerdy he's everything nerdy as it turns out

Speaker 1 so if you have any Star Wars questions for him

Speaker 1 I love it or Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica any of the stars although I will I will say this this is what I wanted to ask you before I let you go spring up Star Wars and stuff you've done a few I'm going to say science fiction not really but in that realm I mean interstellar Martian some of the bigger ones that fall right interstellar I mean I know me too we were just saying yesterday how much my it's my 14 year old's favorite film he's seen it 30 times

Speaker 3 do you like that genre because you've done a bunch on the highest level Yeah, I mean, in fact, after I did interstellar, I got to work with Kip Thorne on that,

Speaker 3 which was amazing. And like even trying to at the end, like writing the equation and all that stuff, that was obviously a lot of work to try to look like

Speaker 3 that was believable at all. But then when I finished that and Rid Ridley Scott came up to me and approached me about doing the Martian, I said, Yeah, here's my thing, though.

Speaker 3 If I sign on, I want to go to space camp.

Speaker 3 And he goes, There's no really adult space camp. And I was like, Well, we'll have, we can make one.
So I went to Houston. I want to do this.
It's a NASA in Houston.

Speaker 3 And I went to JPL and I saw like the rovers.

Speaker 1 And there's

Speaker 1 amazing. Amazing.

Speaker 3 And I did like the whole virtual reality where you're on Mars.

Speaker 1 You're on Mars and you can walk? Yes. Oh my God.
I did the same thing.

Speaker 3 Yeah. And so I was really like, I'm excited to do things.

Speaker 3 Who knows what the film or the project is going to be when it finishes. But I just want to know that this experience of making something is going to be enriching in some way

Speaker 3 to my life. And so that was really, yeah.
I mean, if someone wants to give me another sci-fi space movie, I don't know.

Speaker 1 I'm interested in that. Are you a fan of the genre? Like, are you a Star Wars, Star Trek actor?

Speaker 1 No. No, okay.
Oh, Jessica, thank you so much for that.

Speaker 3 I like that when it's based in reality.

Speaker 1 Sean, are you crying? Sorry, Sean.

Speaker 1 Sorry. Get a Sean at it.

Speaker 3 I know. My very good friend, Oscar Isaac, did all the Star Wars.
And I, you know, I'm not. I like it when

Speaker 3 it feels like it's happening or it's real.

Speaker 1 Don't worry, Jessica. I'm not a huge fan.
I'm with you.

Speaker 3 But I like Game of Thrones, and there's dragons there, so I'm all over the place.

Speaker 1 That works for me. Sure.
That works for me.

Speaker 1 The great Jessica Tessaine, thank you

Speaker 1 so much for joining us. Thanks, guys.
Oh, what a pleasure. Wonderful surprise.
Great to see you again. Yeah.
Thank you, Jessica.

Speaker 3 All right. What do I do? Do I cover my mic? Do I get out of here?

Speaker 1 Just slam it shut if you like whatever you want.

Speaker 3 Bye, guys. Congratulations, Sean.
Okay, thank you.

Speaker 1 Bye, Jessica.

Speaker 1 Thanks.

Speaker 1 Wow. Will.
Well, I know.

Speaker 1 Classed it up a little bit closer. Classed it up.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, how, what a surprise. I mean, I just literally saw her yesterday or two days ago.

Speaker 2 Two months ago. Two months ago showing this delay.

Speaker 1 It's wild. I just how many times do I need to

Speaker 1 do this?

Speaker 2 You're going to love show business.

Speaker 1 How funny, right, Sean, that we had Jessica because you guys spent so much time. You saw her all the time.

Speaker 1 So much time

Speaker 1 on Broadway. Always saw her.
Always. She was always so pleasant, always so sweet.
And, you know, I fanned out. She's so,

Speaker 1 I get it. Who wouldn't fan out? She's so accomplished and she's so good at what she does.
Yeah, there's not a lot of, you know, back to that Juilliard thing.

Speaker 1 You do always think, I always, you know, I always just think you're set.

Speaker 1 If you go to Juilliard you're set and like she's one of those people that made that happen what a talent I know and have you seen um uh sorry I just wanted to I cut you off but did you see um George and Tammy no the the thing we were talking with with uh her and and uh Michael Shannon yeah incredible I know it's about it's about uh Tammy Wynette and George Jones yeah and she is I want to see it she they're both so good in it so so so good and so such unbelievable talent and uh yeah it's really really really good Yeah, and the season one's already happened.

Speaker 1 I think season two is coming out or something. And I want to catch up.
I don't know. It's amazing.
And just, I don't know.

Speaker 1 Anyway,

Speaker 1 what a delight. Yeah, easy.
She seems like easy to hang out with, too. Sean, and I loved how much

Speaker 1 you and she have sort of similar trajectories in that. Isn't that wild? Yeah.
I had no idea. We didn't really get into it

Speaker 1 when I saw her.

Speaker 1 There was never time to like, how was your childhood?

Speaker 1 What do you mean when you were doing like press stuff for your plays? You weren't like, hey, did you also have five brothers and sisters? And did you grow up with a single one? Like, yeah, we never.

Speaker 1 That would have been weird, dude. I know.

Speaker 2 Maybe if you'd just done the small effort of walking across the street or next door and seen her fucking show.

Speaker 1 I wish I could, but I'm not sure. You could have, because you had Tuesday nights.
Well, now she's down at COVID. You had Tuesday nights and you could have done it.

Speaker 1 Oh, I did have Tuesday nights out, but I wanted to go. And you could have done.

Speaker 2 What were you doing on Tuesday nights, aside from just warming donuts in your toaster oven?

Speaker 1 When's the last time you warned? be honest, wormed a donut?

Speaker 2 When's the last time you cut a donut open, right?

Speaker 1 You just butterflied it, scooped it, and toasted it in your toaster oven. By the way, how good does that sound? Sometimes there's donuts at work.

Speaker 1 Sometimes people bring donuts, and you do the half thing where you just say, I'm just going to be, I'm just going to eat half. I promise you.

Speaker 1 And then a half hour later, you're going to be surprised. Oh, when they're flipped open, and

Speaker 1 there's a plastic knife left in there, and people just cut little pieces off it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then the same person comes back and just finishes

Speaker 2 five times.

Speaker 1 That's why in Canada, we got the Tim Bits, Bits, eh? Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah.
If you're going to Tim Horton, it's just Timbit.

Speaker 1 Great dog. I used to eat a Tim Hortons all the time.
Oh, they're so good, eh? So good.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Honestly, the thing is, what's great about the Tim Bit? Here comes a bite. Here comes a buy.
It's just, you don't have to eat the whole thing. It's just one

Speaker 1 bye.

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