Tom Pelphrey - 'Task'

27:42Mark Ruffalo:You know, my heart's beating out of my chest and this guy's literally orchestrating the entire set while he's responsible for being, you know, the main actor in the scene and just completely loose, completely easy. It was incredible. You know, they, they, Chris Mundy is, is another kind of unicorn of a human being. They'd really, I think they'd really cultivated a kind of ethos on that set. And they'd really like carefully built the, like the attitude of the set or the energy of the set in such a way that I think anybody would tell you that got to work on Ozark. It was a very special place to work.

28:24Mark Ruffalo:It was a very positive environment. Everybody was happy. Everyone knew what they were doing. Everyone was respecting each other. It was very—I knew enough even then to know, like, this doesn't happen like this by accident, you know? I got to ask you, if I can, about a few specific moments from that. Season three when you joined as a regular and then season four when you come back as, you know, in an interesting way that I'll bring up. Can you remind folks how we're first introduced to Ben? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Ben, I'm a substitute teacher and I'm teaching my class and I see that they're a little bit distracted because the kids are bullying one of the girls in the class on their cell phones.

29:16Mark Ruffalo:So then Ben gets pissed and gets a trash can and makes all the kids throw their cell phones into the trash can. And then I storm outside and throw the cell phones into the mulcher, the leaf grinder, to destroy all the cell phones. And then I get into a fistfight with the guy who's running, cleaning up the leaves outside the school. You know, it's amazing. I have so many friends who are teachers in, like, middle school and high school from where I grew up. And I've heard from a lot of people how that is their daydream. They're like, I want to. The amount of times I've wanted to do that with my class.

29:56Well, that was certainly a memorable introduction to the character. And then there's a scene later in the season that's been just gushed over by everybody from Gary Oldman to critics to everybody in between. This is when Ben decides to stop taking his meds. and ends up in a taxi. And I think you have about four minutes of uninterrupted sort of manic speaking. And that is not improvised, right? That is, I mean, let me just leave it to you to explain if you can, because that is, you know, when you're 103 and they bring you out for the Lifetime Achievement Award, that is going to be in the, hopefully they don't make you wait that long, but you know what I'm saying.

30:42That's going to be in the clip. So, yeah.

30:44Mark Ruffalo:Oh, wow, brother. um thank you um yeah well you know that was that was a a beautiful piece of writing chris mundy told me later uh that episode was written by mickey johnson and they told me later that they were watching you know how i was going in the first few episodes and kind of were like okay he's he's in the he's in the groove we can give him more and so mickey pitched this idea of that being the open to the episode she was telling me and Chris loved it and she wrote this incredibly beautiful um speech that that Ben gives in in in the back of the in the back of the taxi and yeah it was I I had known that it was coming for a few weeks and so I had a lot of time to work on it like I would work on whatever we were going to film that week but I would spend my weekends with that with the text because you know especially just the way I was trained in stuff like I know a gorgeous piece of text when I see it I think and that was gorgeous and it was with all the research I'd done the books I'd read and everything like clearly Mickey had a deep understanding of what might happen in a kind of manic episode and I thought she expressed that beautifully on the page and then it became, you know, for myself, like this is again back to like how do you work slow is just like I just want her words so deep in my bones that I know them as well as my name.

32:26Mark Ruffalo:And then I can just be with the material and just see what happens, you know. So it could go a million different ways. And it really wants to go a million different ways. And it wants to have different rhythms and speeds. And that if you're comfortable with it and that if it feels embodied, that you can truly let yourself get lost. you know like it was funny i was talking to gary sir gary now right sir gary oman who's so wild also just to just say this like all of a sudden you're in your career your life whatever and like one of my absolute heroes i get to talk to and like about acting it's just so he was your uh he was your brother and mank literally literally my brother and mank like i had a poster of him on my wall, like, and now I get to talk to him about anyway.

33:19Mark Ruffalo:But no, we were, you know, I was saying to him, and I know that he agrees with this, but it's like, in a strange way, I don't even know the right way to articulate this, but like in a strange way, you just want it in there so well and so deep that the way it gets to come to life kind of doesn't really have to do so much with me. Like, I don't want to be thinking about it. I don't want to come in with everything planned. I don't want to know how it goes or how it should go or blah, blah, blah. You know, and with the best writing and surrounded by the best people, you actually get really those opportunities to work that way because you're safe and you know that everyone knows what they're doing and you have the time.

34:00Mark Ruffalo:And that was a beautiful example that Alex Sakharov was the director of the final four episodes of that season of Ozark season three, and just a gorgeous poet of a human being and of a director. Alex works all the time, started out as the cinematographer for Sopranos. He knows every job on the set inside and out. And he's a poet of a human being. And the way he works with the actors is gorgeous. And so, yeah, I was surrounded by all the best people. I had one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I'd read. And I got to to let it live deep in a way that it could, it could sort of, um, reveal itself to me as we were going versus any, you know, ideas that I have about it.

34:51It was great. And then of course, uh, sadly at the end of season three, uh, is parted ways with, uh, uh, however, I don't know that you would have ever imagined that you would be back in essentially that same scene for a couple of years later when they're shooting season four. Can you, what was that like to then, as the final example of these scenes from that show where you really, you know, shined, and I should say season three nominated for the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Critics' Choice Award. The schmoes at the TV Academy took until season four to get on board, but finally did there.

35:29Best Guest Actor when you came back. But yeah, I mean, I can't imagine that's a familiar experience to go back literally to the same, I would imagine, costume and hair and makeup and sets and everything years later and have to show a scene from a different perspective.

35:46Mark Ruffalo:It was intimidating. I was nervous to do that. I had a nod in my stomach, honestly, and I don't usually get that way. And it was wild. It was so, you know, this is like a little anecdote to kind of illustrate what you're saying. But, But, you know, I remember so much of that job the first time. And I remember sitting in that booth with Laura Linney when we were filming when Ben's about to go outside in season three. Right. We're sitting in that booth and we met Diner. And I remember everything about it, where I was and where she was. And so then I go back right years later, two years later to film season four.

36:29Mark Ruffalo:And I go while everyone's setting up and I'm in the same clothes and I go and sit in that booth and I turn and look to the left. And now in that booth, there's a plaque in the booth on the wall. It says, this is where Laura Linney and Tom Pelfrey film the scene from Ozark season three or whatever. Huge plaque right there in the booth. Oh, my God. I'm like, oh, yeah. That's surreal. That's surreal. So surreal. So surreal. And also because of the nature of the character and the nature of the beast, like getting to live in that in season three, it really had like taken over in some way. Like you just get in a kind of flow state.

37:17Mark Ruffalo:And to try and go back there for that kind of character in particular for one day after two years away, I was intimidated. It was honestly a very singular experience in that sense of also just kind of being like, I don't know if I know how to do this the right way. Yeah. Interesting. It's wonderful because you're like, what a weird thing. You would never think in a million years you would have to do that. And it's so out of body and it's humbling in a good way where you're like, oh, here's something I never thought about needing to do. And what is the right way to do this? Yeah. Crazy. Now, in the midst of that Ozark period is when, you know, you did do Mack playing Joseph L.

38:05Mack Wicks, the brother of Herman for David Fincher, as was alluded to earlier. I guess I have to pause for a moment there and ask you. I mean, he's certainly regarded as one of the greats. And also, however, you know, not everyone necessarily responds to doing dozens and dozens of takes. Was that your experience that he was doing that with Mack? and just what do you make of it?

38:29Mark Ruffalo:Yeah, that was my experience. I loved every second of it. I love that man deeply. I love that man from a primal place. That man is my Steven Kazikoff. You know what I'm saying? For real, though. I was built to enjoy working with that man, and truly. He is obviously so insanely intelligent and so good at what he does, and you know what what you learn quickly what i literally learned day one of filming mank which is which is a sort of vantage point that i get to have that let's say gary oldman doesn't get to have is like we're on set we're doing this big group scene with all the writers and gary's there and david's coming in with notes for everyone including gary oldman and gary oldman's the genius and every take he does is brilliant.

39:22Mark Ruffalo:So when you see that, you immediately, just objectively, you go, oh, okay, this has nothing to do with being good or bad. This has nothing to do with being right or wrong. I know that at least with Gary, I'm not saying that's never the case, but this is literally just to do with a specificity of choice that David's desiring because, well, for whatever reason. And to get to see that, to then release yourself from interpreting it any other way. This is not about good or bad, right or wrong. This is just specificity. And you should know that going in, it's like he's David Fincher. He's going to have whatever actor he wants there.

40:05Mark Ruffalo:If you're there, it's because he wants you there. So you're, you know, but no, I loved him. I think he also has an incredible sense of humor that I don't hear talked about often enough. I spent most of my time on that set laughing and just having the best time. But yeah, it was incredible. And I mean, you feel so safe. You know that somebody is there who knows exactly what they want and who's not going to stop until they get it. And as an actor, what more do you want? It's hard to say that a movie got lost when it got the most Oscar nominations of the year. and was nominated for Best Picture and a bunch of things.

40:44But, I mean, it was during lockdown, and I think people sometimes were a little overwhelmed with other things. They should go back and check it out because it is pretty – and it's a great look into Hollywood history that a lot of people don't know about that's reverberating to this day with the writers and being screwed to some extent by – or threatened by the business and all of that. So anyway. No, I'm glad that you said that because that was my experience of it coming out too.

41:09Mark Ruffalo:I felt like for the movie that did get the most Oscar nominations that year, it did feel like it kind of flew right under the radar. But I would encourage anyone to go watch it. It's really beautiful. It's really funny. You might even want to watch it twice. It's so smart and it moves so fast. And one of the great things about David is he will never, ever, ever pander to his audience, which is such a compliment to the audience. You get to really, you know, turn your brain on and lean forward. And yeah. I want to, I guess, ask you to characterize how Ozark changed things for you because before you answer, I'll just say on paper, it seems like the things that followed that most immediately, maybe presumably may have to some degree come out of that are a couple of years on Outer Range and then two, David E.

41:58Kelly limited series and back-to-back years, right? We have Love and Death for HBO Max in 2023 and then A Man in Full for Netflix 2024. I could go on and on with comments about all of these, but I guess I just want to ask you to share your perspective of, again, did you feel things change as people were – people just binge Ozark, right? So like how quickly did you feel the effects of that show?

42:27Mark Ruffalo:yeah well again ozark came out right at the beginning of the pandemic you know i just like i just had a very strange experience with with what you would sort of say was like my moment of like the merger yeah success you know and obviously not to complain there's an amazing those are amazing things to have happened during the pandemic but what i mean is I never went to a premiere. I never got to go to any press in person. I never got to do anything. Like I didn't have outfits or get dressed up or like things that I'm so used to doing that. Like I'm sitting here and talking to you and didn't get to do any of that.

43:09Mark Ruffalo:I was on Zoom for certain things and with like bad internet. So it was wild. It was strange. And I don't think I really understood how well Ozark had done probably until like two years later. Wow. Wow. Well, there was no way to gauge it. I guess unless you're like monitoring Twitter. But I guess that's probably not healthy either. No, no. It's definitely not healthy. um but no i knew i knew that it had gone well but yeah it was it was um obviously such a crazy time in the world and those two things were kind of dropped in in there and and just the fact that somebody like david kelly wants to work with you multiple times i guess that's a that comes out of awareness and respect i would imagine for that may not have not that it wouldn't have been there but It just couldn't have been there until somebody saw you shine as much as you did in Ozark, right?

44:15Like it could be a cause and effect.

44:16Mark Ruffalo:A hundred percent. No, that guy is a true legend. When they sent us love and death, it was just like the pilot or something. And my character was like – he was like in the background of one scene. I was like, does David Kelly want me to just like kind of be in the background? And then I zoomed with him and he's like, you'll see after episode four. you're like you're doing everything it just really becomes about you but later and later and for some reason maybe because he's just such I was just like okay I trust you completely you know usually you want to read it you want to see you want to even understand just to read it to see like am I sure this is something I can do all that stuff but it was a great experience and when we finished Love and Death I got a call from from his right hand guy Matt Tinker like three days after we were done and I was packing up my Jeep to drive back to New York with my dog and Tinker was like yo David wants you to do it again I was like yes sir when and where and with Jeff Daniels which uh that sounds like you guys had had some fun and one of the more memorable how do we even put this fight slash death death scenes uh that that show you go out in a memorable way oh man it's just that I could just it's such a clear memory of talking about that prosthetic with Miss Regina King, who, you know, I'm like the big fan of and so excited to finally meet her and like get to work with her and get to like ask her about her process and everything.

45:45Mark Ruffalo:And our first like fully long extended conversation on the phone is about my appendage. Should we just revive folks? So Jeff Daniels character, Charlie, Spoiler alert Basically strangles your character Yes, Raymond Raymond But not before triggering his own heart attack Yes And so we have In the flesh So it's just Yeah And I'm completely naked when all of this is occurring Yes It's so wonderful I mean there's truly like a brand of humor That I don't That is just David E. Kelly like he just knows how to hit that sweet spot where it's so wild and it's so funny. Yeah. Well, this brings us to the thing that honestly, you know, I really admired and liked a lot of your stuff up till 2025 and task, but like this made me fully appreciate, I think what we're dealing with here with you.

46:42I mean, this is unbelievable. Let's just set it up. Robbie Prendergrass, sanitation worker in Delaware County, Pennsylvania or Delco, mourning the loss of his brother living with, you know, sort of an extended family that includes his brother's daughter, played by Amelia Jones, and robbing by night the biker gang responsible for the brother's death, which puts him in the crosshairs of an FBI task force led by Mark Ruffalo's character, Tom. It's a, I believe, six-episode season, if I recall. Seven. Seven. Seven. Seven. And also we should say from Brad Inglesby, who had previously done Mare of Easttown set in the same region, that one was sort of more about mothers, this one more about fathers.

47:27But both shows, I believe, were cast by A.V. Kaufman. And was that who initially reached out to you or does Brad – like how did this first cross your radar?

47:38Mark Ruffalo:Yeah, task was they sent the first two episodes and asked me to put like two scenes on tape, and that was from Avey, because I didn't know Brad at that point. I had never met him. I loved Mare, but I'd never met Brad. And yeah, it was another one. Honestly, it was like Ozark in the sense that as soon as I read it, I knew there was work to be done, but there was just something about the character that I felt like I understood completely and then I wanted it. It just made sense to me. So we put, put a few scenes on tape real quick and sent them off and kind of just like Ozark heard back a couple of days later and they were like, great, you're going to, you're going to do this.

48:20Can we just also say though, you know, somebody who knows you only, let's say from task who then runs into you later today, would not recognize, you don't look at all like you look in task. Can you explain what was your What was your physical appearance during the casting process?

48:39Mark Ruffalo:Yeah, so at that point we were coming—well, during the casting process, I think I was filming like Outer Range Season 2. So probably when I made my audition tape, I kind of looked like how I look now. You didn't already have long hair and the beard? Mm-mm. Okay, so that was—so when was it decided? Because that's—you look very different on the show. No, I know. I know. So I send in the thing, get the job. And by how I look now for everyone listed, it's just like kind of short hair and just like kind of unshaven, but not even really a beard. And then the writer strike happened. So we knew I would be doing it and all that stuff.

49:21Mark Ruffalo:But now we just have seven months. And like my kind of rule, not my rule, but just what always ends up happening is unless I'm working, I don't like cut my hair or really shave. I guess why should you? Well, I just kind of like long hair and I don't, I like a beard. And so I just kind of leave, I'm just like, whatever, next job, they'll cut it all off again. It's also like, because it's easier to cut it. Sure. Like if I have it long, then I can – whatever role I need to do, it's already long and we can cut it back. But I can't just grow it obviously. So I always just think in terms like that, like just grow it in case the next role you need it.

50:04Mark Ruffalo:But so anyway, we went to do a Zoom when the strike was finally over and it was with Jeremiah and Sally and Brad. And I come on the Zoom and I looked like – oh, God, what was his name for my – Saddam Hussein when they – Pulled him out of the spider hole. When they found him in the, yeah. And because just for seven months, I just hadn't had anything touch my face or my hair. So I had this big beard and this really long hair. And Jeremiah just goes, oh, that. And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, can you look like that? And I was like, yeah, sure. It was perfect. I mean, and by the way, I think a lot of people were perfectly, they thought that it looks great, you know?

50:51I loved it. Honestly, I fell in love with it.

50:53Mark Ruffalo:It really became like, I didn't realize how great it was to have a beard that long. Now it takes a long time to get it that long, and then there's like serious maintenance issues. But it's kind of like how my daughter knows me. Like she's weird now that I don't have a beard, you know? That's hilarious. Well, how about the other thing is, you know, Delco is not that far from where you grew up. Was that accent easy for you to nail or how did you? Because that we should say Robbie has a very specific but cool and memorable accent. But how did that come about? Yeah, that that was the part of, you know, I said to you before, I felt like I understood the character immediately.

51:35Mark Ruffalo:That was the part that was keeping me up at night, the accent, partially because some of it is the same as my accent from New Jersey. Like I, Tom, still say water. Like I just just, you know, and so does Robbie. And so that's the Delco accent, water. So it's like, oh, great. I already know how to do that. But then the problem is you get seduced into thinking that the rest of the accent works in a similar way and it doesn't. um man that accent is so strange it's just strange in terms of like when you when you go for people who don't know Delco is just outside of Philadelphia we're talking about if there's no traffic you're driving in into Philly like into downtown Philadelphia in 30 minutes like it's right there and there's no I've never once encountered a Delco accent in Philly So you're like, how have you managed to sort of pen up this super hyper specific accent in just this small, tiny area?

52:45Mark Ruffalo:Well, it's so cool, too, though, because it's so, I mean, it's so epic. It's such a great accent. It's so immediately identifiable. But I was intimidated because, you know, they'd done like the Saturday Night Live skit. about Mare of Easttown, where they're making fun of the accent. And everyone loved Mare of Easttown, so everyone knew the accent now. So I was like, I mean, you just have to be real. It's like, if I don't do this right, nothing else I do matters here. Like, truly. People just stop listening or whatever. So it was Suzanne Selby, great accent coach. I was working with her all the time.

53:24Mark Ruffalo:I was doing all the deep dives on YouTube. I had people that I got introduced to were from Delco that I could call and talk to on the phone, all that stuff. I heard there was like one sentence that was helpful to hear in Delco. Yeah, there was this YouTube video I found because it like, you know, so there's that O sound like home. And when you use it, when like, I honestly thought Brad was messing with me at a certain point. like the amount of sentences he wrote for me to say with multiple O sounds in them. I was like, is he just trying to be like, well, Kate Winslet can do it.

54:06Mark Ruffalo:But I was like, man, like these sentences, I can't get them in my mouth. Like, you know, can you go home and use the phone? And I'm like, but that one actually sounds like it works. But there's other times I was like, this doesn't work. Like, I don't know why I know, but it doesn't work, you know. And just for like, if you've never done it before, like technically speaking, an accent should be reducible to phonetics. So like we learned how to do this in college. Like there is a phonetic alphabet and it accounts for every single sound made by us from our mouths. And it is not the English. It's not a language.

54:41Mark Ruffalo:It's a phonetic alphabet. So it could be used for anything. So technically speaking, you should be able to write something out in the phonetics and then swap the phonetics that you need to swap to create the accent. Right. At least as a baseline. Yeah. Yeah. Not so with Delco. And this was the moment that broke it open for me. I saw this news footage and this dude, I mean, this guy is so epic. He's like 26. He looked like a stoner. And it was like a local news thing. And I guess there had been a fire the night before down the street. and this guy like rolls out of bed, you know, and he was just like, he was like talking about it.

55:15Mark Ruffalo:He's like, yeah, I woke up and I looked down and I just saw the smoke and, you know, and blah, blah, blah. But one of the sentences he said had two O's in it and he only used the sound once. I mean, this is so cheesy and actor nerd, but like that was my eureka moment. And then I called Suzanne. I was like, he only used it once. And then I started looking for another place. I'm like, they're only using it once. Like it's really only for the word that needs to be emphasized and you can kind of just let ready actor nerds. You can kind of let the other sounds become like a schwa and just kind of throw them away.

55:51That's so interesting. There it is. And you picked it up. Wow. Well, Brad has talked about the Michael Mann film Heat being a major inspiration for Task. The idea of two guys who in some ways are very different but in other ways are very similar on a collision course. So in task, the cat and the mouse who don't meet until the fifth episode are both fathers who have a deep love of family, have lost their wives, are leaders of people around them, I think are fundamentally decent, but struggling to stay on track, feel connection to nature, follow a code of their own, on and on and on. And I guess I just wonder, I know it's not a coincidence, but I wonder how much of that you may be in coordination or not in coordination with Mark Ruffalo sort of and Brad dissected.

56:39Like, is that how does that affect your approach as an actor, if at all?

56:43Mark Ruffalo:You know, honestly, we really never talked about any of it, which I love, which is I really appreciate that. You know, it was kind of like I know Mark was doing his thing and I was doing mine. And that's, you know, a really beautiful thing about Brad is like he trusts you. He knows you're going to do your thing. And, you know, I thought a lot about that. That was one of the things that jumped out to me the more I was working on the scripts was in a very beautiful way. I'm getting you have Mark's character, Tom, who's this ex-priest who's struggling with faith, right? Because all of these things have happened and he's suffered such a horrible personal tragedy and he's caught in such a dark place.

57:27Mark Ruffalo:And he's so confused about what to do emotionally, intellectually. And so he's lost his faith. And then you have Robbie who literally in the text says he doesn't believe in God, doesn't believe in afterlife, doesn't believe in anything. And yet Robbie lives with a beautiful faith. faith he he says to cliff everything happens for a reason and he doesn't just say that he lives as if everything does happen for a reason it's really beautiful to me it stood out as one of the most beautiful aspects of of the character that even though he'd been through horrible loss and horrible tragedy and losing his brother and losing the mother of his children all this stuff like he still demanded to live by this faith that i don't even know if he himself was aware of And I just thought that was like a beautiful thing that brad was exploring without ever hitting that on the head or ever forcing that down anyone's throat And um, I thought it played out, you know Beautifully on the page and and kind of the car scene which also was so wild the first time I read that man Well, so there's it's interesting because there's a couple of very powerful car scenes in the In the show and I know there I think the one you're talking about is basically the one at the end But I want to first ask you about the one, I believe it's in episode three, in which Robbie and this niece who's helping to raise his children are in a car.

58:57You called it the most important scene in the whole show. Why was that? And what was that like working with? I know you've spoken so highly of her, and I think she's amazing also as Amelia Jones. Oh, man. This is not fair. From Coda, we should say if people haven't, if they need a reference, that was probably her best known thing before this.

59:17Mark Ruffalo:Yeah, she is beyond talented and she is beyond. Is preternatural the word to describe a young person who seems like they're 20 years older than they are? Incredibly mature, a lovely, lovely, lovely human being. And I don't know if I've been around many people who are as prepared and focused as she is. You can't push her off. And we're filming this. She's 22 years old. You cannot push her off. Maeve. And that's, that's the goal. That's always what we want. The more you can have two actors who can't be pushed off, the more you can be surprised by how a scene comes to life. And Amelia cannot be pushed off is incredible.

1:00:02Mark Ruffalo:It's such a gift to work with somebody like that. And I just adore her as a human being as well. Yeah. I thought, I thought that that scene was important because, you know, you, you, you certainly come into the world of task and see Robbie doing pretty extreme things, you know, and you think like, well, regardless of the circumstances that are unfortunate that might've put him in this place, like, you know, he's, he's, he's still doing some pretty irresponsible things considering the fact that like, he's got to take care of these kids, like his, his children are depending on him. And to some extent, Maeve kind of is as well.

1:00:39Mark Ruffalo:and um i just thought that you know and again credit to brad like you're gonna get it once and the taste of it and we're never gonna talk about it again you get this you get this scene that is born out of exhaustion and it being the middle of the night and panicked desperation where where robbie has to tell mave like i just need a little more time not because i'm want to get away with this, not because I think I'm great, not just literally let me make money to take care of my children, which is the only reason I'm doing any of this in the first place. There's like a vulnerability to have to be in that position, especially with like his niece, much younger and all that stuff.

1:01:26Mark Ruffalo:And, um, so there's, there's a tension like, uh, you know, I think the kind of person that Robbie, like he doesn't even want to talk about, like he's not there trying to make excuses or anybody feel bad for me or anything but it's like i do need you to understand what this means so that you don't like go to the cops right now and you know that kind of tension like having to pull between those two things and getting to do it with a partner like amelia that's that is why you go to work truly like those are the days i'm getting chills talking about it but like amazing scene that's why you keep doing this like you get you get a scene like that from brad well next one i'm going to ask you about is from the next episode after that episode four which is just so uh heartbreaking where robbie's daughter admits to him that she never bought the ticket for the father-daughter dance and they have a dance together but man that is hard not to choke up at.

1:02:26Mark Ruffalo:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is, these are these moments where we talk about career and it's impossible not to talk about life. You know, I'd had the great, the great, greatest privilege in the world really of getting to become a father a while before we started filming task. And, you know, that my daughter means the universe to me. And, you know, so then I have to go play this scene where a man who his daughter means the universe to him and, you know, he sort of let her down and he understands why. You know, I say about that scene and about certain parts of task is like when you're a young actor or when I was a young actor, I guess I can only speak for myself.

1:03:14Mark Ruffalo:But like certain scenes, you're like looking for like how to get your hooks in it. Like, where's the meat? Where does that live inside? like how do I turn that up like how do I find that emotion and sometimes especially as a young actor you're like just want to make everything emotional all that stuff and that scene in particular for me Tom now was I was literally just trying to distract myself like I couldn't I couldn't really think about that yeah you know that he knew that it would be the last time he'd see you know like Like it was so much that like I was just trying to keep it together. Yeah.

1:03:51Mark Ruffalo:Oh, my gosh. Just trying to. Well, it's funny because at the end of the day, it's like truly what the character would be doing ultimately. And this is why it's so amazing to get to do these, get to be an actor for so many years and years. Like the way you learn and grow and discover. But it's like truly that would be what Robbie's doing too is like I can't let her see what I know. And so I'm not going to like sit in a motion and try and pull it back. I'm literally going to think about I wonder what the score of the Mets game or the Yankees game or whatever, you know, like, yeah, it's just gorgeous.

1:04:25Mark Ruffalo:I mean, it's gorgeous. Like, you know, it's an embarrassment of riches, some of these scenes. And that's Brad Inglesby. Well, episode six has the one that I think was probably physically the most punishing. I remember hearing from your director on that episode, Sally Richardson, and you about just the tons of stuff that happens beforehand even to do a 17-minute chase fight in the woods scene in which Robbie is being pursued by both the task force and the dark hearts, this gang, and is fighting for his life. There's a point, I guess, where acting stops and you're just like fighting your ass off, right?

1:05:07and running your ass off. And I mean, I have met, have you ever had anything as grueling as that sequence?

1:05:15Mark Ruffalo:In different ways, like there was definitely days on Ozark that were just like by the end of the day, I was like cross-eyed, you know, just like, I just put me home and I want to go to bed. But also the thing that those two shows have in common is that at a certain point we were filming on the East coast in like July, which, which is just it's so hot and it's so humid it's just gnarly but no it was i mean it was you know it was it's it's awesome it's like it's so it's such a cool part of our job so fun like that there are certain days where you're just like you're gonna run around in the woods and and and fight gigantic sam man i mean i i had to give it to i wasn't gonna give him anything on the day because I, you know, but three days later I was like, yo, bro, I'm still sore.

1:06:07Mark Ruffalo:Like it still hurts. Oh, my God. Because, you know, we're doing that fight scene. You watch that fight scene. You see it play out on the screen for like two minutes. It took us eight hours. I mean, for eight hours. That's insane. We were just going at it. It's insane. And the fact that even, you know, I think this is a credit to Sally as well, that with all of these people from different constituencies chasing each other in the woods that we manage to not lose perspective of or lose our sense of like where they are, who's chasing who, who's where, where are they in relation to each other? All of that.

1:06:44It's just blocking wise. It's insane.

1:06:47Mark Ruffalo:It's a it really is a huge credit to Sally. She spent a lot, a lot, a lot of time preparing that. She seriously spent a lot of time preparing that. And by the time we got there to rehearse, she knew everything she wanted us to do. Sally did an incredible job with episode six, the way it played out. But even when we were filming it, I was like, wow, this is not easy to, you know, and she was on top of everything. So huge, huge credit to her. That was a massive undertaking. She's used to, you know, directing people in fancy costumes and drinking cups of tea or whatever. That's a very different ballgame here.

1:07:25Mark Ruffalo:That's a very different ballgame. Well, that episode, as the last of these that I want to prompt you to talk about just certain scenes or sequences, that episode also obviously is where the final one where we see Robbie and he in Tom's lap in the back of the car, where there's something very deep going on, I think, for certainly Tom's character. But also, I mean, I've heard you talk a little bit about that it was shot maybe in a few different ways. I don't remember. There's a thing where the blood is used to make a cross, I think you said. Anyway, let me just ask you because these guys who have been coming at it from totally different sides wind up in each other's arms essentially.

1:08:11And what a way to say goodbye to the character. I know. I know. I know. It was really beautiful.

1:08:21Mark Ruffalo:So, yeah, it was really beautiful. Yeah, so when I was laying in his arms, Mark, Mark, as Tom, gave me last rites. And because he was using his hand to help me cover where I was stabbed, when he pulls his right hand then up to do last rites on my forehead. And it wasn't planned, and we didn't know, but, like, after one take, I sat up and I had a perfect cross of blood on the center of my forehead. It was like Ash Wednesday, but it was blood. Yeah, that was kind of wild. Yeah, I thought it was, you know, like aside from how sad it was and the human element and stuff, but like even just when I was reading that and just thinking about like the story Brad was trying to tell and how it ties in and stuff, I thought it was like a really beautiful moment of like in all of this that Robbie might be able to offer Tom something back that he'd been missing.

1:09:20Mark Ruffalo:Absolutely. Well, I guess the last thing I just want to ask you about is what the moment since you turned over this show, you finished your work, but other people started to get to see it, what it's been like for you. The show obviously is so well received. Your performance has already been recognized with a Critics' Choice Award nomination. I think that's just the start of exciting things from that side of things. And, I mean, also on the heels of Ozark, just more and more people are discovering or better appreciating what you can do. And I imagine that's leading to exciting things afterwards.

1:10:01I don't know what's next for you or what you would like to be next. But just take us into this moment as people are catching up with just how excellent, I think, of an actor you are.

1:10:15Mark Ruffalo:Well, thanks, brother. Yeah, it's an incredible time. And, you know, I remember having a conversation with my agent years and years ago, like, what is success? And it was like, for me, success is just a greater ability to have more access to good scripts. and um and usually when you get access to really good scripts there's usually really good people working on them and and you know i'm just so grateful like you get these incredible opportunities to showcase what you can do and whatever talent i have and and hopefully i'm getting better and better and i think i am but like you do need the opportunity to show it and and not just sometimes the opportunity but the timing of everything there's so much of it that's out of your control is really what I'm trying to say.

1:11:02And like, I'm so incredibly grateful

1:11:04Mark Ruffalo:for how this is all rolling out and that I still get, you know, more chances to have great opportunities. And I'm grateful for the years I spent struggling and not having it, you know, because you really get, I think, a better understanding of how much of it is out of your control. You know, it wasn't like, well, whatever. There's just a lot of it that's out of your control. And I appreciate the journey that I've been on so that I understand where to put this. And it is a lot of gratitude. And, you know, I take my work seriously and I have real responsibility for that. Always have, always will.

1:11:47Mark Ruffalo:But I would be a liar if I didn't say that a large part of it are things that are out of my control. And for that, I can just be grateful. Awesome well great to see you Thanks for taking all this time And excited to see what's next Thanks brother Thank you

1:12:11Thanks for listening to Awards Chatter We really appreciate it And would really appreciate you taking just a minute more To subscribe to the podcast And to leave us a rating and review on your podcast app And to follow us on Twitter and Instagram where our handle is at awardschatter. On those platforms, we announce upcoming guests and provide details about special live recordings of the podcast that you can attend. Until next time, thanks again for tuning in.

1:12:40This Father's Day, when you ship UPS Air at the UPS store, your items arrive on time with your money back, guaranteed at no extra cost. It's like the father of all shipping services. It shows up to the airport way too early just to play it safe. It's overprotective about all the things that truly matter. And it's always prompt, especially to be with family. Make it your first choice to celebrate your dad. Ship UPS Air with our money-back guarantee. Exclusively at the UPS Store U.S. retail locations. Visit the upsstore.com slash air shipping for full details. Terms and conditions apply. Good energy in.

1:13:14Good energy out.

1:13:19Storm. Zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine, and immunity support. Storm, energy for life.