Octavia Spencer

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Sweat the vegetables.

What if they're not athletic?

I don't understand.

Welcome back to Where Everybody Knows Your Name.

Today I'm joined by Octavia Spencer, a brilliant Oscar-winning actor and executive producer who demands your attention.

no matter what project she's in, whether it's hidden figures, the shape of water, the help, or fruit vale station.

Her range is extraordinary, and it's just a joy to spend time with her.

Octavia is the host of a new competition show combining her love of family, friends, and southern food.

It's called Family Recipe Showdown, and it just premiered on Food Network and HBO Max.

Here she is, Octavia Spencer.

Every time I see you at some event, because that's usually where it is,

I try to jockey into a position where I can give you a big hug.

And it's probably, wanted or not, I got to hug you because you're one of those people.

You're so incredibly talented, and I'm a snob when it comes to actors, and you put out so much light and happiness in the world that I just got to hug you.

Thank you for saying that.

Yes.

And before I go on, there's some people wanting to say hello.

Mary, my wife, Mary Steenberg.

God.

Sends all her love.

I love Mary.

And I just got off the phone with David Stanwell.

I love Dave.

You know, Dave's my glam guy.

I know, I know.

And Mary's, too.

Yes.

And we, uh, he doesn't gossip, but he does fill us in on where you are and all of that.

So he sends much love.

Well, can I say something before we say we're loving each other on air?

I was waiting for this, but go ahead, please.

You know, I have had the great fortune of working with you and Mary

in the formative parts of my career.

And you

were both

people that I revered.

And the fact that I got to work with you and learn from you

is something that I hold very dear.

So

you were always kind, always,

I just remember being on two of your sets and

just,

I can't say thank you enough for extending me that grace and kindness, both of you.

Wow.

Well,

thank you for saying that.

There's my hug.

There's my hug.

Gosh, it's awkward to get hugged, isn't it?

Sorry.

Sorry.

I'm sorry.

I've been hugging you so much.

No, it's not.

No,

I'll take it.

Yeah, we worked together on Becker.

I tried to find the clip, but it doesn't seem to be out there in the world.

But Mary, mary remembers you she what was the name um the grass harp oh my god that was the first that was the first that was in my hometown marilyn hotchkiss marilyn hotchkiss exactly it was before that it was before that was way way way when i back when i was still living in alabama Wow.

I don't even know what year that was, but it was

trying to forget.

I'm going to say

2000, but it was in the 19s.

Yeah.

the grass harp the grass harp with walter mathow and jack lemon

and directed by walter

son yes yes

it was the first time mary picked up uh um an accordion yes stuck with her she's still doing it oh my god

oh wow yeah we go way way back

Well, I remember her telling me, and I came to the set once, and I think I may have met you.

Let me get the full name.

Yeah, Marion

Hotchkin

dancing and charming.

A long mouthful, but really a charming film.

But she said she couldn't take, you had a smaller part,

and

she couldn't take, you know,

her eyes off you.

And she said, if there's a God in heaven, this person will be a big, huge star.

And looky, looky, there's a God in heaven.

Thank you, God.

I'll leave you alone in a second.

But then the help,

Mary had

played the part of the publisher in New York.

But it was only like two days, but we came down and I got to meet you in that amazing cast.

And that was a seriously.

I mean, talk about the God in heaven working with all to get Sissy Spacek.

Mary, and Cicely Tyson all on one set with me, Viola, Jessica, Jani.

I mean, it's Emma.

I just think back and I'm so grateful because, again, formative years as an actor.

And it was brilliant.

And your performance is iconic and brilliant.

And also pretty cool that it was,

isn't Tate?

Yeah, Tate was the director of The Help.

It's a friend.

Tell me about that.

We're going to meander all over the place because we are going to talk about your cooking show that's coming up.

It's not, it's more than a cooking show.

It's more than a cooking show because I don't cook.

So

it's about South.

It's about the South.

It's about great food and family.

And I can't wait to talk to you about that.

But staying with this, how did Tate come into your life?

Because he was also the man who said,

go to LA, right?

He was a big part of your life.

Well, what happened was we were both production assistants on A Time to Kill.

Your first

on-screen.

My first on-screen role.

And it was, I still remember my lines, innocent, innocent.

We won, we won.

I played Sandra Bullock's nurse, but he worked in the production office as a production office PA.

And I worked in extras casting as an extras casting PA, which is where I worked.

The department I worked in on the grass harp with Mary.

Excuse me.

And so we became friends.

I'm trying to think there are other people that were on that set as well.

Tate got a house sitting gig after we wrapped that project.

And I thought, well,

he's going to go live in Hollywood for free just watching somebody's house.

I bet I could get a gig like that.

So I said, I'm going to.

And I got a house sitting gig.

And

we became friends with, I think he actually met Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone in the Groundlings.

The people who were in my life largely then are still in my life now.

And we just came up through the ranks together.

He was pursuing acting and writing

and then kind of dropped the acting and focused on directing.

And Melissa and Ben were doing it all.

So

you kind of strike out on your own, but I think this

industry also about the relationships that you foster.

Because Ben and Melissa, also,

we did all of their short films.

I did every short film Tate did.

And so

I won in the end, you know, by getting a paying gig from both of them.

Right.

Melissa is another one of those big-hearted, huge, talented people I just adore.

Yeah.

I love, love them.

But, but both of them.

Yes.

Yeah.

So I've been very fortunate with the relationships in my life that also helped me um

uh

work wise i mean

tate with the help melissa and ben and i uh we finally worked together uh on thunder force and we're constantly even now we're we're still uh coming up with ideas that we want to do

because you want to go to work and enjoy the people that you work with

right because they're huge long hard fun but hard days yes and if they're not fun you're exactly silly person.

Why do it?

Why do it?

All right, starting at the beginning.

You're one of seven?

I am the sixth of seven kids.

Yeah.

Well, I can't say that I'm a kid anymore.

I just turned 55.

I can't believe it, but I'm the sixth of seven.

And

this is a terrible question to ask out of the blue, but how is everybody?

Everybody's great.

Oh, good.

I'm very fortunate to still, there's still seven of us.

And still,

it's kind of funny because whenever you go home,

the hierarchy is there.

And my siblings still treat me as if I'm the sixth of seven.

You know, I'm like, I'm a grown-up.

You sit over there, fancy pants.

Yeah, yeah, no, no, you're the sixth of seven.

Because you lost both your parents, all of you did,

fairly early on.

Fairly early on.

And

my

older siblings really took on the role of taking care of me and my younger sister.

And how much older were they?

We're all like two years apart from the oldest to the youngest.

So my youngest sister is two years younger than me.

My sister that's immediately above me is two years and then two years.

So one of them was 30 years old when you lost your mother or your father?

I lost my father when I was 13, my mom when I was 17.

Right.

So so that you were able, no one else came into the household.

It was just

the siblings.

It was just

really tight.

We are.

We are really tight.

You know, the people that you love the most will also, you know, tap dance on that last nerve, but,

but they also are the ones that, you know, you, you race to to give good news or you call, call, you know,

they are your counsel, you know, so it's,

I can't imagine not having them and or going through life without them, you know, especially then, because they helped me grow as a woman.

You know, to lose your mom, to lose your parents early on is quite dramatic.

Quite.

Yeah.

And to have people

who witness you, even though though your parents aren't there, they've witnessed you, some of them from the very beginning is so important to be witnessed is like everything.

Everything.

So how did you go?

All right, high school?

High school.

Well, the high school, it was kind of funny.

I had always wanted,

I remember watching

the Emmys.

It was either the Emmys or the Academy Awards.

I would watch with my mom.

My mom was really funny.

We had a television that didn't have a remote.

So she used one of the six of seven

to stand next to the television and change the channels.

And it was my turn to change, to be the remote that day.

And I was flipping through the channels and everybody's all dressed up and glittery and they were getting prizes.

And I thought, well, what do they do?

Because I loved that.

They were just glamorous.

How old were you?

I would have to say I was about seven, which is very impressionable.

Very, very impressionable age.

And

I knew then that I wanted to do whatever it was that they were doing, where they got prizes and they got to dress up and be beautiful.

But you're a girl.

You are a girl, girl, girl.

Yeah, and it was because I was remote for the day.

That's amazing.

And

my mom never

discouraged us because she wanted us to

have

big dreams and goals for ourselves.

But she perhaps wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer.

And I am too much of a germaphobe to be a doctor.

I mean, can you imagine looking through a microscope?

And you let me hug you.

I don't know.

No, no, well, no, no.

No, no, no.

Germaphobe, you know, to the extent of, is it catching?

Are you sick?

Is it catching?

Right, right.

But, but not so afraid that, you know, you can't interact with people.

And

so I did get to perform a lot in high school.

And,

but I decided that I was actually going to be a lawyer because my mother was still alive.

And when she passed away,

I then had to determine how I was going to live my life, whether I was going to pursue my own dreams, which which I still love the law.

And I decided that I was going to, I don't know how I got here, Ted, but pursue acting and

producing.

I actually wanted to be a producer before acting.

Wow.

Yeah.

And at what age did you, because I looked at your credits again, and you have executive producer, producer all over the place.

I didn't even realize

what they did, but I

always thought I liked

putting people together and problem solving and coming up with ideas.

And I didn't know at the time that that was called a producer.

And I always liked working.

You know, it's like working in the mailroom.

You learn every job and you appreciate things, you know, so it was everything that happened to me, it was an accident, but it was,

I think,

again,

led to me being the person that I am.

I really love producing.

And it was all by accident.

What about the acting training?

Because you didn't just want to be famous.

I didn't want to be famous.

You did something about it by.

Yes.

Well, it takes being cut completely out of a film

to realize you might need to be trained.

But

it was kind of funny.

My mom, it was one of the things that she instilled in us.

You know, for every job you do, no matter what it is, you're going to have to train for it.

If you're going to be a fry cook, somebody's going to have to teach you how to, you know, cook the fries.

And

I thought about that.

And

when I came to, and I think everyone should train through the theater.

I mean, there is just, there's no better way to learn the craft.

So I took acting classes at Auburn.

I was a minor.

Well, I was going to be a lawyer.

So I was an English major, but journalism and

acting, you know, were my minors.

And then I moved to L.A.

and actually started studying technique.

And, you know, I didn't go the route of New York.

I went the way of film.

Film.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I dabbled in New York till it was very clear that I wasn't going to be on, you know, Broadway singing and dancing.

Yeah, I can't sing or dance.

Nor I.

I should have twigged on a lot sooner than it did.

But you know, it's interesting because a lot of people who want to be actors,

you know, the best thing to learning how to be an actor before you actually start taking classes is to have a great education because all you have to draw on later in life is you.

Exactly.

You know, so the more educated, the more curious, the more all of that that you are, the better

the chances are, the better the actor you'll be.

I agree.

I agree.

And because, you know what I, what I've learned in my ripe old age

is

we're just, as actors, we are detectives, you know, we

are observers of

people.

And

when you're playing a character, you have to get to the root of why people act the way they do.

And, you know, so that's-judgmental way.

Because you cannot effectively play a character that you judge.

Right.

And so that's the, that's the, that was the, the thing for me.

But learning all of that, just putting it all in the kitchen sink, learning the technique, but then actually executing it.

Right.

on on uh you know whether it's stage or film every day or television was was truly,

it was, you know, hit or miss, but it was a culmination of all of those things.

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Were you part of a church growing up?

We definitely were a part of a church.

It was a very small church.

And me and my other siblings were the choir members.

Those poor people who had to listen to us sing.

Oh, God.

Please get to the sermon.

Get to the sermon.

The choir.

That choir, they're all related.

And somebody should tell their mom that they cannot sing.

It was pretty funny.

My mom was the mistress of ceremony.

She did all of, so I've always been a performer, but you know what I mean?

It's, but it was, it was for church.

So now I, I know that I can't carry a tune too far, but I, I've always known.

We're not jumping ahead, but tell me, was cooking and food and kitchen a big, huge part of your life?

Yes, it was.

I mean, we cooked my mom and my sisters, I was too young to be a part of the cooking for the family, but, you know, I wasn't too young to clean.

So my sisters, I would be in the kitchen.

And it's still one of my favorite things to do, watch people prepare meals.

And I still watch because I still have that mentality.

You're too young to deal with the knife.

So, you know, I like to be in the kitchen.

I like, I love.

I also love to clean.

I'm happy to clean.

I'm happy to clean because I also know that I can't eat anything that I've prepared for myself after it's cooled down.

So

I'm happy to have other people cook.

I'm happy to clean and be that guest who is always invited back because I'm happy to clean.

And you're a grand appreciator.

Grand.

I'm the best, most appreciative guest.

You're like, Mary grew up in Arkansas,

which is South, which is southern cooking, which is,

I grew up in Arizona, and bless my mother's heart, we had great, we had beef, you know, because there was cattle everywhere.

There was sheep, so there was lamb and roast beef, and then frozen everything else.

Frozen peas, frozen lima beans, frozen, you know.

So cooking was not.

a leg of lamb,

definitely.

She was wonderful at that.

She was a great entertainer.

But food,

I'm very jealous of Mary's upbringing and yours, because food in the South, even in the 50s, 60s, was really good.

Yes.

And my mother was an exquisite cook.

And a couple of my siblings know how to, they're not as good as, well, let me not say that because then I won't be invited back to dinner.

One of my sisters is amazing.

The others each have their own, like one of my sisters we go to for all the barbecuing and all the smoking.

She is that person.

Another sister is great with the baking.

They each learned something from my mom.

I didn't.

I would always say, you know what?

I'll call home if I want to, you know, figure that out.

So now I live in the world of frozen vegetables and bag salads and, you know, all those things that I really, you know, shouldn't be doing, which is why having a cooking show

the

most hilarious idea.

Uh, but also, I get to benefit as I do in life by having other people cook, and I get to sample.

Okay, let's go there.

I, I, I was enchanted with the trailer, and I watched, I think, half of the first episode

before you got here.

Uh, it's called uh, what, family recipes show

which I first off, right?

All right away, the title

I think says something about the show in that it's not

who's the best cook.

No, it's show us your recipe from your family that just kicked ass.

Exactly.

And let us, you know, so you get to examine.

I think it's going to stay southern for a while.

Yeah,

I love southern cuisine.

Yeah.

I love it.

And I think it should stay southern for a while.

And then I might want to, you know, go to New England, but right now

I'm happy to say, give me something southern because that might mean a crust of some sort or fried in some way.

How about a fried peach pie?

You hear me?

You hear me.

And the fact that it's recipe that is oriented because recipes like a family lineage, just like, you know, it's like Skip Gates going back and tracing your ancestry.

You can go back and trace recipes back to your great grandparents,

especially if you're from the South.

Yes, you can.

And then the other thing that is very big in the South is passing on the cookware, you know, skillets.

Wow, yes.

Yeah, it's, it's a big deal cooking, because when you think about how important meals are in our lives, you fall in love over meals.

You, you make big business deals over meals, and then you create lifetime memories with family over meals.

And so they better be delicious.

Helps.

It does help.

It does help.

And I, again, some of my fondest memories growing up

just being, you know, in the kitchen watching my mom and sisters prepare dinner.

So tell me about your partnership with Duke.

Duke.

Duke.

Duke.

Sorry.

Oh, my God.

Book.

It's

Book and Duke.

Duck.

Yeah.

Duke and Chase.

Yes.

Yes.

Who is hugely famous in New Orleans

and owns many restaurants and is the

guy in town.

He is the guy in town and couldn't be

a nicer man, but I tell you, an amazing,

you talk about

the most amazing southern chef going into that restaurant and it's, oh man, at least 100 years old

and

tasting their family recipes.

Right.

Oh, and it's just consistent.

But

to get your heart broken by Dook, you know, hey, this is delicious, but, you know, I think

in the contest, it's like, you know what?

I'm not so sad, you know, because I got to cook for, you know, Dook Chase.

And, you know, I'm the person that I, I mean, if it tastes good, I, I, I'm going to be your, your biggest champion and be sad to see you go.

But Dook is the expert

of technique and how things should taste and procedure, not me.

I don't even know.

Are there always three couples?

Always three.

That are somehow related, family, because it's family recipe.

And they win, whoever wins at the end of that episode wins $10,000,

which ain't too shabby.

Is that a day, by the way?

Is that take place in a day?

In a day.

So that's actually really good money.

That's very cool.

i how did it come to be whose idea well um reese witherspoon uh and i uh there's a powerhouse powerhouse wonderful producer and lauren neustadter um who who works with reese lauren and reese and i we we had a show um on apple tv and it was during the um

the pandemic that lauren and i would call each other we're not really cooks and so

imagine it was before any of the restaurants were opening back up.

One who cannot cook.

I was eating sandwiches all the time.

And Lauren would say, hey, I bought this rice cooker and I made rice.

And we would just laugh, you know, at any sort of triumph in the kitchen that was, you know, that we made it through.

And she has a family.

And one day we decided, we got together for lunch and we were laughing, thinking about how horrible we were

getting through on the eating end, because we both enjoy

eating other people's cooking.

And we just started talking about how

fundamental cooking is and how much fun we each had growing up about, you know, watching cooking and participating and

cooking with family.

And we just came up with the idea like at lunch one day, like, we should do this because Octavia, wouldn't it be funny if you you had a cooking show and you don't know how to cook?

And I was like, I don't understand what we would be doing.

Nobody would believe it.

And it is the best cooking show for me because I am the taste expert.

Yeah.

You know, if it doesn't pass my taste buds, it's not going to pass.

And you're weigh in for the audience.

Yes.

You know, because most of the audience, most of us out there are you.

Yes.

You know, in relationship to food.

And there are so many of us who really don't know how to cook.

And, you know, Dook is so amazing.

He was talking, you know, to some of the contestants

about giving them real instruction, you know,

after they

go through their.

family recipe.

And then when they're on to the final round, which none of them knew, it was always a surprise.

They never knew that there was going to be a celebrity guest

at the end of the, no one ever knew.

So it was always the biggest surprise.

And so Dook would always give instruction.

And I remember him saying things like, Well, you have to sweat the vegetables.

And,

you know, cooking 101 for them, sweat the vegetables.

What if they're not athletic?

I don't understand.

What do you mean?

Like, for those of us who don't know cooking terminology, what does that mean?

It sounds like, don't worry about it.

Don't sweat them.

Don't sweat the vegetables.

No,

no, you have to sweat them.

You're going to put a little

olive oil and a little

stock and you're just gonna oh so you're sweating them you're making them moist okay so I learned a lot being in the kitchen with him it sounded like you learned a lot yes I haven't applied it yet because my thing well after we did the show I immediately went to Prague and

I didn't really understand the

ovens like they were they were the you have to have the the metal bottoms that were magnetic I can't think of it only because I oh, the ones that you can put your hand on and won't burn.

I did not understand it.

I was just standing there like, this thing is broken for like weeks.

And I finally just said, you know what?

I'm not going to cook here.

I'm just not going to cook.

You know, and what will I cook anyway?

So I'm excited now to be back in my own kitchen to try and utilize some of the things that I learned from Dook.

You got to have your sisters on, don't you?

Well,

that will be in some part of the near future because, you know, the one that thinks they know, you know,

everything.

Remember, I told you there's a hierarchy.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, it's my show, but then they'll say, I'm the one who knows how to cook.

I can't believe you have the cooking show.

I'm assuming they don't listen to this podcast.

I'm going to make sure that they don't.

listen to this episode because

to this episode.

I'm going to get in a lot of trouble, a lot of trouble ted a lot of trouble but no i will eventually have have them on because you know it was just so much

fun to

witness and participate in because again i get so much joy being in a kitchen yeah as a plug i really enjoyed watching it Thank you.

Yeah.

And really, and I love southern cooking and the little I know about it through Mary and her family's recipes, one of which is hysterical.

It's called corn spoon pudding.

And it's a box of this, a tube of that.

It's like you hide the recipes from anyone, you know, the ingredients.

I mean, you just don't want them to see it.

But butter.

Oh my God.

Yes, butter.

Oh my God.

Is it delicious?

You know, it's just amazing.

But

yeah, so thumbs up.

Good for you.

Thank you.

Will you do it again if asked?

If asked, absolutely, absolutely.

It is fun.

It was the most hilarious thing.

It was hilarious because I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that I was having a good time.

And all the contestants were just so much fun to watch.

And they made really good meals.

Are you a little jump around here, a black-eyed peas on New Year's Day?

Absolutely.

With collared greens.

With collared greens.

And I like a little ham hock because each thing represents something.

Good luck, money.

Well, it's good luck and money and health.

So each of those, I forget which, the color, the greens, leafy greens is leafy money.

The black-eyed peas is the luck.

I can't think of what the health is.

Ironically, it's probably the ham hock.

Exactly.

I like a little ham hock.

If you're really healthy,

you can deal with this ham.

That's funny.

So I was listening to your

Oscar acceptance speech.

How many Oscars do you have?

Two?

No, I have

three nominations.

I have three nominations and one win.

Right.

I used to look at you and think, well, we're kind of similar, our careers.

I started off small and I was, I'm not saying this was you, but I would be a,

you know, background in a commercial and be thrilled in New York, any, anytime to get in front of a camera, anyhow, and then guest stars here and there.

There wasn't a gut, you know, and then, and I looked at you, oh, you did that too.

You did a lot of TV and then you went and ruined it by winning, you know, an Oscar.

And it's like, okay, no, we're not alike, she's different.

No, hello, Mr.

Multiple Emmys.

Come on, yeah, Emmys, Emmys are wonderful, but I've put two or three of my Emmys around Mary's Oscar and it tried to hide her Oscar, and it just doesn't work.

It doesn't work.

There's something about an Oscar that's pretty magnificent.

Well, listen, they're all beautiful.

All of the

beautiful God's awards are beautiful.

They're beautiful.

But somewhere, I think maybe it wasn't in your speech, but you

maybe somewhere else.

Sorry.

That you acknowledge Steven Spielberg.

Tell me how that came about.

Steven Spielberg, it was

his...

production company that produced it with Chris Columbus,

Michael Barnathan,

but it was Amblin um that produced it that produced it yeah i didn't know that and it was it was with participant media i mean talk about meeting your your heroes um

two of my favorite stevens uh were um key players in one of my favorite shows of all time colombo stephen bochko and steven spielberg steven spielberg directed it stephen bocko wrote the pilot of colombo you know some extraneous uh

information here.

And Stephen Bochko kept me working all throughout the years, you know, giving me

little parts on a lot of his shows.

And so then to meet Steven Spielberg

during the help

was also, you know, getting to meet.

one of my all-time favorites because I seen everything he's done.

I had the pleasure of working with him for two days in saving Private Ryan, and it was a joy.

I said, don't pay me.

Use the money to go to the Shoah Foundation, because basically I had begged just to be in anything.

And

they granted me that.

And

just to watch how fast and certain he was.

One little Steven Spielberg story is

they finished D-Day

shooting in Ireland with the Irish Irish Army,

I think something like two weeks ahead of time.

Wow.

And I went, only Spielberg could shoot Normandy D-Day and be through with it.

He's so fast and efficient, two weeks early.

And I told that story forever.

And then

several months after it came out, I said, Stephen, pardon me, I'm still telling that story about how fast you work.

And he went, what?

No.

We used all the black powder up in Europe, and there was no more powder to blow anything up.

So they had to stop.

But nevertheless, I do believe he's one of the fastest I've ever seen work.

He was so certain.

It was such a pleasure.

And the other one is Stephen Bochko was my daughter Kate's father-in-law for many years and a dear, dear, dear, dear friend.

I miss him.

I miss him too.

I love.

Mr.

Bochko.

Yeah.

Big, big place in my heart.

Yeah, me too.

Tell me when did you start being a producer, an executive producer?

I started getting credits as an executive producer on Fruit Vale Station.

But prior to that,

I was optioning books.

I started optioning.

You're smart.

You're so smart.

I just started.

And the thing is, before anybody knows your name, you can get them for very cheap.

You can get books.

What's an example of one of those that went on to be?

Well,

it's one that hasn't gone on to be but it was the most difficult book to get um uh jonestown raven uh about the jonestown

and i remember just you know trying to get the rights and try everybody tried to get the rights from um uh tim ryderman who actually you know was shot on the tarmac.

You know, he went through it all.

And he has the most definitive book, The Raven, about everything, Jonestown.

And I remember, you know, talking to him and

just having extensive conversations because that's one of the things that I knew a lot about.

And

my agents, everyone, you're not going to get the rights, Octavia.

Everybody and their mother has been trying to get the rights.

I said, well, you know, let's just see.

And it took a minute, but I got them.

And, but, but prior to then, I mean, I just, I optioned a lot of books.

And it was on Fruit Vale Station that that, that movie was made for under a million dollars.

I think it was $900,000 was the budget.

And we lost $150,000, which is like millions when you, when you have such a tight budget.

And I, I, uh, what do you mean you lost?

We, we, they lost, you know, some of the funding.

It was Forrest Whitaker's company and Nina Yang Bon Jovi, his producing partner.

They lost a little of funding.

And I started calling some of my Nouveau Rich friends from the help

saying, hey, guys, can you put $25,000?

You know, just calling people.

I put money in.

I got Catherine Stockett, who wrote the Help, to donate some money.

I called a lot of people.

And then we, you know,

made up the money.

Nina also got some people to help.

And

the same thing you did with

donating your money that you made on Saving Private Ryan.

They had me in this really nice hotel.

And I thought, guys, I can pay for my own hotel.

I'll pay for my own

per diem.

Let's use this money to get more actors.

And, you know, because I think I was like maybe a week on that.

And

with helping behind the scenes in the way that I had,

Nina and Forrest

offered me an executive producer role.

And I said, absolutely.

Boy.

And so deserved, because what you just described is what a lot of producers with the gift credits don't do.

I mean,

it's one of those weird things in Hollywood.

There's a billion different definitions of producer, but that.

finding the money to make sure you can shoot something, giving up certain things so you can shoot something is a well-earned executive producership.

And I don't get vanity credits as a producer.

I am always an active producer.

You know, I'm always calling actors, you know,

trying to get the role, just putting the puzzle pieces together.

And

one of the other

jobs that I,

Peter, I credit Jonathan King and Peter Farrelly

for the firm position that I've now acquired as a producer because

Jonathan King was doing Green Book and he looked around the room.

He was one of the participant media was also the other studio that produced the help.

And Jonathan, when they were putting the team together for Green Book, looked around the room and said, you know, we're doing a movie about the South Um, and there aren't any people from the South and no black people, uh, you know, in the executive branch, you know, other than Mahershala.

And we had just worked together on the help.

He called me up and said,

Would you mind, you know, executive producing this?

With,

of course, it was a way for me to learn.

Uh, and

I

got in there and rolled my sleeves up, you know, uh, to be of

service to Peter.

Right.

And I admire.

Well, there were things that he was going through in the post-production of,

you know, with the film that he would call and ask me things.

And I would advise him on,

you know, how do you mean other people's points of view of other people's points of view?

Yeah,

told by white people.

well and the thing is with green book

i had already been through with uh madam cj when you're dealing with people real people there's so much difference that you need to take when there are family members

alive and uh so i

was trying to you know help him navigate those waters because you know

the writer uh the co-writer it was his father but then the subject matter involved two people's families.

And so it was really trying to show deference to both.

And

just being, you know, a person who was from the South,

giving him input on what I thought, you know, and he really listened.

And I tell you,

when it we

when the film was out, there people loved it or they hated it.

And

they loved it or hated that it was made the way it was made that it was made right because they thought that way they because i think people thought the fact that this uh italian white guy was right making this film that's supposedly about a black guy um was going to be problematic and

what

i had to remind everybody of

Don Shirley, I wanted to be a part of that

because

Don Shirley was this magical man.

He embodied everything that was, you know, beautifully articulate, educated, world-renowned pianist.

And instead of just playing

metropolitan cities, he drove across the South so that he could be seen.

And I thought, well, we need to tell this story.

I need to be a part of this.

And

I wanted to be a part of it it because I thought it was an important story to tell.

And

Don Shirley had given so many interviews and all of this was all, I mean,

you could just find a tape and it could be transcribed of how he felt about

only because I haven't slept.

Vigo's character is escaping my

brain.

But

it was about, know,

showing deference to Mr.

Shirley and leaving it open for him to tell his own story because the story was really about the Italian guy.

Yeah.

And there was a, you know, so it was this whole thing that it could have gone a certain way.

But when people watched the movie, they all felt something because it was beautifully

told.

And I, I just had so much respect respect for Pete because it wasn't easy.

No.

You know, telling that story.

And

he

literally

professed to the world how grateful he was having me in his corner.

And I can't tell you how much I learned throughout that process.

Yeah.

He's a friend.

I have huge respect for him.

Me too.

Me too.

And you, because I can't imagine that it was easy.

No.

Because.

And then you have Jonathan King, one of the most amazing producers in the business who has such good taste in the projects that he produces.

The fact that he was cognizant enough to say, you know what?

I think we need somebody else with a different perspective in the room with us as we're doing this.

you know, my hat's off to all of them for actually saying we need another voice in here, one that from a different perspective yep so little steps yeah baby steps and so those baby steps uh led to uh

a development deal uh with fox

and then that turned when fox disney uh merged it became uh an abc deal and then now i'm uh producing television with Skydance.

And so and I'm learning a lot from some of the

best producers in the business.

Yeah.

What is this ride?

Ride or die?

Ride or die.

It hasn't come out yet.

That's what I filmed in Prague.

Oh, my God.

And can you tell a little bit?

Because Bill is one of my Bill Night.

Bill Nighy.

Nigh.

I fucking love him.

I love him so much.

Amazing.

Well, this is the television show that I was filming in Prague.

Limited series.

Yes, starring myself and Hannah Waddingham.

Oh, wow.

And Hannah and I are best friends in the show.

And I find out that she is an assassin.

Never good.

So it's, it's, you know, never good.

And so we just

go on this little,

I don't want to say road trip because it's out of necessity that we're on the run.

Yeah.

And

it's I don't want you to ruin it.

Yeah, but I can't wait to see.

It's going to be a lot of fun.

But my production company is producing it with Skydance and Barbara and Andy Moschetti, their company,

Double Dream.

So

yeah.

But can you put your producer hat to the side when you start acting or are you capable of doing both?

I have to do when I'm number one or number two on the call sheet,

I now understand.

See, I didn't understand this back in the day when I was the PA running around, you know, chasing the actors like, where are they?

They're supposed to be, I don't understand why we can't find them.

You know, now I understand what their role is, especially the ones who are the leads and are producers.

I understand that my job is to be completely prepared because we worked French hours.

You only had 10 hour days.

So I

straight through.

And you have to get the work,

but you also have to keep morale high.

Yep, you're a host.

You're a host.

Exactly.

You're a host.

So

I see my role as when I'm number one or number two on a call sheet.

And on this show,

number one,

I'm Miss Hospitality, but also

all business, fun and business at the same time.

I need to be Tom Brady with the scene work.

We got to keep the production moving, but at the same time, keep crew morale high.

Yep, that is the job.

You get the trucks, you know, you celebrate birthdays.

Because they are literally working, physically working harder than anyone.

Anybody.

Anybody.

They're before us, they're after we leave.

So I know that I have to be over prepared.

When I'm on production, I don't have a day off because when I'm physically working on the set, I'm executing the work that you know learning the lines on the weekends and and getting the i try to be seven days ahead that so that i can give myself um a little time off on one of the days down to not have to do anything right but i i work that's how i work um all right so

you're seven days ahead that scene that you learned on the first day and it's now the eighth day shooting that scene do you retain it I find that what I do is I end up going, yes, this is learnable.

And I got the gist of it.

And if I put myself to it in a half an hour, I could lock it down, but I'm not going to right now.

I'll do it the night before.

You know, I wish I were that quick of a learner.

Oh, I'm not.

No, that's not quick.

I just mean I've learned

enough.

And then you review it.

See, this is what I do.

I learn it.

I learn the line.

I read the scripts.

I map out all the emotional stuff so I know exactly where we are because we shot things in blocks.

We did two episodes at a time.

So you could be in episode one

today, but you're in episode two tomorrow.

Episode one, the day after, episode.

So it was like crazy town.

So it was

preparing it, but then running it every night, running so that by the time I actually had to,

and it really only was about learning the lines because I don't make the choices about what I'm going to do until I'm actually on the set and

you know try to be open and and um ready to facile you know on the on the spot make changes and and hear direction but I have to tell you in order to get to be malleable as an actor for me I have to work every day and it's like

I did a show called Damages and

it was being rewritten and written and rewritten and shot out of order and everything.

And I was playing basically a sociopath.

No, I mean, totally a sociopath.

And sometimes it worked to my benefit because I'm your basic actor who will fall into every bad acting trap.

You know, I'll want people to know.

Here's the ending.

I'll give you a little flash in this moment of what I'm really like.

You know, terrible.

But I would find out, I did some of my best work because

this sociopath one day, you know, i i had i would have a scene with i'm i'm kind of making this up but it's it was a good metaphor with a little a child a young child and i'm just charming as all get out and just really delightful to this child then a week later i shoot the scene where i just destroy their father absolutely destroy the father but i'm capable at least when you see him it put together edited to be this total sociopath it's i love and that's the other thing i love about the job that I

just finished

is I kind of have

a similar trajectory.

I'm not the sociopath in this or psychopath, but I, you know, learning,

watching, peeling the onion, let's just say, of, of all of our characters.

And every character gets their day in the sun on this show.

We all,

one day I'm completely sane and

the next day I'm not.

And it was kind of wonderful being able to play that.

But let me just tell you,

it's hard.

It's hard, but I love it.

I love it so much.

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Bigger pictures now.

And if there's something else you want to talk about, but you're, there's so many wonderful things you've done.

You really are a wonderful actor, Octavia.

You really are.

I appreciate you saying that.

You are my favorite kind of actor.

You're a character actor that can go anywhere.

You're nimble.

And at the same time, you don't lose that incredible light you have when you act.

Some people diminish, I think, when they act.

And you're anyway, much admiration.

But let's

go big picture for a second.

So, why, why, uh,

what's kind of your guiding light

in life with your position, where you are, and all of that, what is your moral compass?

Is it a person?

Is it a philosophy?

Is it what is your

draw?

Excuse me, I

realize just how fortunate I am to be doing

a job that I love.

It doesn't feel, well, some, you know, it can feel like a job.

Yeah, it can feel like a job, but if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

And I realize that that is a privilege that a lot of people don't have.

And so sometimes I can get caught up in the trap of, oh, woe is me.

I'm working every day and blah, blah, blah.

You know, but then i think you're working every day doing what you love

and

um

i i i i try to

exist in a place of gratitude

and now sometimes i'm i'm i'm a human being i i i i'm not always grateful but then when i realize that i'm you know off the mark you know i i i get right back to the gratitude and that's one of the things that i love about

being a lead actor and a producer at the same time.

Because when you look out on a set where people, you have 350 people working to make this show.

Because there are a lot of people who don't understand how our business works and that it's not just the people in front of the camera.

It's a village.

It's an entire village.

Of artisans.

And you need

those artisans to to make the people in front of the camera

look as though it's effortless, but it's not, you know.

And

I feel grateful when I

look out and see how many people are not only working because they enjoy it, but getting to provide for their families,

building dreams, not just for themselves, but for their families.

I'm very family-oriented because I'm from a big family.

And again, I am living my dream every single day because

I thought my dream was, you know, that I would be a lawyer.

And actually, this is the one time in my life that I am regretting not going to law school, but

the one time.

All the other times has been great.

But

I am

truly grateful that I am an artist and that in these dark and desperate times, people can look to what we do to find respite from whatever is going on in their day-to-day lives.

Yes.

And

this is something I'm wrestling with.

We all are, if you're awake.

and have blood,

you know, streaming through your body, you are aware of.

Before we jump to that a little bit, it does matter that you're putting out light

and not in an airy fairy way, but you're putting out, you're reflecting human

nature, quality, the human condition, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and you're doing it without judging.

also, which is, I think, a really

something that actors, good actors have learned to do.

And it's obviously necessary,

but very hard to then take into life, you know, because we judge.

I judge.

Yes.

You know, and if you're judging, you're not going to be able to have a real conversation.

And

anyway, but what you put out, the laughter, the consciousness is,

you know, is the same kind of

It's different than being a lawyer who changes law and policy for the good, but it's just as important

to give an example of what human nature could be or condition could be.

What it could be.

And I think that's where I find

hope is

through

artistic endeavors.

Because sometimes if you are living in an echo chamber, Sometimes the only way that you will see someone else's perspective

is through

a book or through a film or

some piece of art or music.

So, I love that this is my

field because we do get to

have sort of a commentary without being judgmental.

You know, you put it out there and you hope that

it

affects people the same way that it affects you in some way.

And if people are honest with themselves, sometimes what we do can affect change.

And

that's why I like doing it.

I like

being

a part of something that you can step away from whatever it is you're going through for that one hour.

Sit with me for one hour.

Sit with me for 30 minutes.

And you don't have to think about how the bills are going to be paid.

You don't have to think about,

you know, a sick family member you don't have to think about you just for that that oh my god peace of mind i i love the idea that for that short period of time that um i can somehow um

transport you from from whatever your reality is and then Maybe when you go back out into the real world,

it will impart some wisdom.

Maybe it will will affect you in a way that you, you know, we can become better citizens of the world.

I don't know.

It's interesting, but I'm also very,

I feel very fortunate to be an artist right now.

I really do.

Me too, because it is a,

what's the right word?

It's.

I keep wanting to say,

what I'm trying not to say is you have not

weapon, but

you have a something to push back, you know, or to say no.

No,

I'm not going to necessarily malign you or call you names, but no.

Yeah.

No, this is this

is human kindness.

This is what

joy looks like.

This is not that, you know.

Yeah, me too.

I'm grateful.

Then I go,

I mean, I'm not Jane Fonda.

I keep saying that on this podcast for some reason, who I admire hugely.

But she's, you know, once more under the ramparts.

She's leaping up and doing and being incredibly courageous.

And I'm looking around going,

is what we just said about being an artist enough?

Well, am I being a coward?

Am I being

smart?

I think people have to do what they can and in their own way.

And some people can and want to be

in the trenches and on the front lines, but other, you know, we find different ways to

express ourselves.

And I'm not one of those people who can be totally quiet, but I also know that it's not something that I can constantly, you know,

live in because it's not a good state of mind for anyone.

But you can't bury your head in the sand either.

So

I think that we have to appeal to our better angels and we have to be those better angels.

And we also have to

have those difficult conversations

away from

the public and in your homes, you know, with your friends, because that's how you change hearts and minds when people don't feel as if they are being talked down to, which we do.

Yes.

We're very good at talking down to.

Yes.

Yep.

You know, so it's, it's, it's, it's a very interesting time

to to be alive.

And again, it's one that I,

it was easier to be in Europe.

Yeah.

It was easier to be in Europe

Because, you know,

I had a, my focus was my job every day.

And so now

coming home,

I know that I'm not a person who can just be completely quiet about things.

But I also know, again, that it's just not, you can't exist.

And you can't fight anger with anger.

No, you cannot.

You cannot.

And dark, dark, you can't.

So yeah, we have to still be the people who love and show kindness and love in the way that we love.

And

allow the fact that there's a lot of fear and sorrow

in this city or this country, but I'll talk about this city.

There is.

There's a lot.

And allow it.

Don't.

pretend it's not there.

Exactly.

We can't pretend that it's not there because, you know,

it's other people today, but it could very well be you and me tomorrow.

And then there are so many other factors.

I mean, the fires when i left to go uh

god it was you left right before literally it was right before and then um

when i started to get the phone calls and you know friends

were staying at my house because you know and and we're all on these uh big groups text and then and it's like oh my god what's happening so there there's so many different things happening you know, that we're going to the strikes, you know, there's so many different things that are happening in our society

that

as artists, the one thing that we can provide is a little hope.

Hope, hope, hope, hope.

Don't you dare reflect hopelessness.

Exactly.

Because that ain't fair to your kids or your grandkids.

Exactly.

That ain't that ain't right.

Whatever you have to do to stay hopeful.

Exactly.

And I do love LA.

Me too.

And I do have faith.

Me too.

Yeah.

I can't tell you how much I respect you.

And I'm so grateful you came in to talk with me.

Me too.

I respect you so much.

And this has been so much fun.

I literally think I'm going to come hang out and see if I can get the dog to love me.

Yeah, there's a dog outside.

This has been so fun

and illuminating on so many levels.

And it's these kinds of conversations um

i think

that

shed a light that keeps hope alive within all of us you know we we we we talk about things you know we talk about our artistic uh journeys but also we um hopefully

provide a

again we in order for people to stay sane you have to talk about other things.

You have to be good citizens of your world.

And right now, my world is Los Angeles, California.

And what can I do in this community right now?

But then on a broader scale.

What can I do to

that's not

just, you know, writing a check for this cause or showing up for that cause.

What can I do to provide a moment of respite from all that is going on in the world and if if all i can do is get you to forget for just a fraction uh

of time a day you know just for a fraction forget what's going on um and you're talking about people who don't always agree with you i yeah absolutely maybe even especially those people exactly and and here's the thing when we provide examples of because if you're if you're living in an echo chamber you are never going to hear another person's side yeah sometimes you have to show

and we show we we learn by doing we learn by the examples that we see and sometimes you have to see different examples and that's i think where our jobs with these conversations with film with poetry with music with art that's how we can shine a light i agree because i always use this example of tuning on the news and seeing fires or floods or people in little rowboats going out and picking somebody up out of the water and saving their lives.

You know that they may not be on the same side of

a philosophical, political

discussion, but they are so

ready to put their lives on the line to save another human being who may have nothing to do with their belief system

because you

let me, sorry, I've said it, but let me turn around to how wonderful that you're doing family recipe

because recipes are what we're talking about too.

Exactly.

You know, family recipes

are for everybody.

And I am going to have to talk to Mary about that.

What is it?

Spoon, corn, corn, spoon, pudding.

I mean, a box of this, a tube of this.

Sounds so delicious.

Oh, the southern recipes are the best.

That was Octavia Spencer.

I highly recommend tuning in for Family Recipe Showdown.

It airs at 9 p.m.

Eastern and Pacific on Food Network and streams the next day on HBO Max.

That's all for our show this week.

Special thanks to Team Coco.

If you like this episode, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

If you like watching your podcasts, these full-length episodes are also on YouTube.

Visit youtube.com slash team cocoa.

More for you next time.

Where everybody knows your name.

You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson sometimes.

The show is produced by me, Nick Liao.

Our executive producers are Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and myself.

Sarah Fedurovich is our supervising producer.

Engineering and Mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez.

Research by Alyssa Grahl.

Talent Booking by Paula Davis and Jane Batista.

Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Yen, Mary Steenbergen, and John Osbourne.

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