"Tim Robbins"

9:55Will Arnett:I can't give you my quadrant. No. Dungeons and Dragons set up.

10:00Sean Hayes:He's going to show up with his golden dial. and you can ask it to roll. Roll for damage. Knock on the door. Are we doing a barbecue? Yeah.

10:11Will Arnett:Have you ever played Dungeons & Dragons, Tim? You know, that's what I missed. I was more, you know, that kind of long-form nerdy kind of game. Mine was Stratomatic Baseball. Ooh, tell me about that. You're talking to a baseball...

10:26Sean Hayes:I didn't play, but I'm aware of it. Tell us a little bit about it. It's really cool. It's a long, long game, but you play nine innings and you pick your teams and basically there's a roll of the dice and a multi-sided die that determines whether it's a hit or a strikeout or a grand slam, whatever. It's very complicated. Do you pick real players? You say you pick your teams. Yeah, we pick real players, yeah. I haven't played for a while. Back in the day when Cal Ripken was on his long streak Sure I don't think anyone's ever going to break that record Of consecutive times played without missing a game We kept Cal out of the game 1 ,400 games or something?

11:13We kept Cal out of the game You kept him out? Yeah, we kept him out Just to spite him Yeah, just to spite him It was Cal won't play But Billy was in there

11:20Will Arnett:We ended the streak Yeah What about fantasy baseball? Do you play that at all? I don't, no. Cool it, JB. Sorry. Are you a fantasy guy?

11:31Sean Hayes:Yeah, he's up at 4 a.m.

11:32Will Arnett:I am. I'm the commissioner of my league. Really? It's my Dungeons and Dragons dork stuff. Can you be bought? Sure. Everybody's got their price. Everybody on my team's up for sale. Except the Dodgers.

11:47Sean Hayes:Wait, so Tim, I'm gathering by the fact that you played that, that you were a lifelong baseball fan, And I mentioned Bull Durham, which I saw in the theater twice. I loved that movie. I know it was a million years ago. It's an iconic movie. It's one of the great sports movies. Of all time. And it's not just about sports. It's about so much more. So when you, I guess you were a big baseball fan, so when you got the chance to play, and that character you played, what was his name, Nuke? Was that his name? Yeah, Eby Calvin, Nuke Lelouch. Yeah, I mean, were you, was that a role when that came your way?

12:22Sean Hayes:Do you remember the process of getting that? Were you stoked to get to play that part? Oh, are you kidding me? You know, the weird thing was that I got cast in another baseball movie the same time Eight Men Out that John Sayles was directing. Yeah. And I loved John Sayles. It was, you know, I had to make a decision, and I'm glad I made the one I did because it kind of shifted everything for me in life. I was so psyched. I mean, I did the audition section, and then I got my callback was basically you've got to come play some baseball, throw the ball with Kevin Costner. Oh, wow. And so they wanted to see if I could throw.

13:04He didn't want to have to fake any of that stuff. And could you? So I had played all my life, and I was mostly third base, and so I had a pretty good arm, but I didn't know the mechanics of the pitching, So I had to go, you know, earlier and try to, you know, put that together.

13:20Will Arnett:Did you end up becoming a fairly decent pitcher? Like, did you learn a couple of pitches? I did. I got it up to 85. Wow. Wow. No control at all. No control at all. I threw it into the stands. When he hits the bowl, you know, that was, you know, basically me. But I could throw it pretty fast. And how were you as a hitter? Pretty good. Could you get a round on an 85-mile-an-hour pitch? No way. No, no. Yeah. Oh, no, no. It's so hard. I didn't play. I grew up in Manhattan. So we didn't have a lot of baseball fields. Right. You had show leagues. Yeah. We had concrete playgrounds. So we played softball.

14:02Gotcha. And so mostly softball. And so I could hit a softball. I could hit very well. And I still play a little bit. Do you really? Yeah. I play first base now, you know.

14:16Will Arnett:Yeah, yeah. Because it's easier. Tell us about that. Is that just your buddies? Is it a show league? How are you doing that? Usually just friends, you know, get together. There's some regular leagues. When I'm on the East Coast, there's a game I get involved in. I play hockey that way, too. Still? Roller hockey. Oh, my God. We can get so hurt. Yeah, I have a game every Sunday out here. that I'm missing for the show. You're playing roller hockey, Tim? Roller. I used to play ice. I haven't played ice for a while, but I play roller hockey every Sunday.

14:49Sean Hayes:Tim, I used to play on the Upper West Side. I played ice hockey. And then when I moved to New York, I used to play up on 84th Street. And there's a school between Amsterdam and Columbus. And they paved it. And then for some reason, it wasn't open for like six months. And all these Canadian guys that I knew, and a bunch of American guys, we played all day Saturday and Sunday. Like right when Rollerblades came out. like 91, 92. So nice. And I lived by the Holland Tunnel, and I would skate uptown with my stick all the way up to the Upper West Side. It was the best through cars and shit. You know, Tim, Scotty, my husband, was a goalie in an adult ice hockey league in New York at a place called Sky Rink, and he played you guys.

15:30Sure. No way. Yeah, in the 90s. Scotty's team played your team, and he said he took a beast of a shot. You took a shot on him. It was great. But he blocked it. Isn't that wild? What a small world.

15:46Sean Hayes:Do you remember Scotty the Civ? Do you remember Scotty the Civ? Scotty the Civ. Isn't that wild? What a small world. Wow. That's crazy. I remember Scotty. Goldies are a special breed, by the way. They sure are. There's Will. I used to be a goalie. I was a goalie growing up. Really? Oh, yeah. Wouldn't you agree there's something different about them?

16:08Will Arnett:the kind of weird... It's like the catcher in baseball. It's usually the brains of the bunch.

16:14Sean Hayes:Well, there's always that thing. They always say that goalies are the best skaters on the team because they have to be really nimble. I don't know if that's necessarily true, but I think that goalies, you know, they're spending a lot of time. Think about it. Even in soccer, too, they spend a lot of time on their own, and then all of a sudden they've got to kind of perform. They're the king of their own little domain. You know what I mean? So they have to have a certain temperament. I don't know.

16:36Will Arnett:What about injury? Are you worried about injury? I'm worried. Anytime I get active, like you're going to blow out a hamstring or a lower back. I mean, you know, we're not 25 anymore. Yeah, but were you ever like that before, or is it age that's telling you that or bringing that fear? You're sneaky.

16:52Sean Hayes:JB's not sneaky. He's very athletic, I will say. I've seen him hit a softball out of the park, and he's a heck of a golfer. I know. But he'll pull a muscle now, you know, pulling Greek yogurt out of the fridge. Yeah.

17:08Will Arnett:You know, it starts to wear on you after a while. But anyway. No, I don't worry about it. I don't worry about it. I have injured myself, and it just means you have to sit for a while, you know? But you're not legging out ground balls, are you? Oh, no.

17:23Sean Hayes:Yeah. Yeah. I went the last time I played Chelsea Piers of— Sorry, go ahead, Tim. No, I was going to say, yeah, I leg them out as fast as I can. Right. but I'm not, you know, going to tear a muscle for it.

17:38Will Arnett:Have you guys ever tried to not say when you're talking over each other and someone says, go ahead? Have you ever tried not to say, oh yeah, no, I was just going to say. I was going to say, yeah. You can't do it. Yeah, you can't do it. If somebody says, go ahead, you don't just go ahead. It's always, yeah, yeah, no, I was just going to say. I'm telling you, try to do a week without that. You can't do it. It doesn't work with an edit either. It's true. Like if they edit out the interruption. Yeah, right. It doesn't work with the edit. You know, I've been curious about this. You know, I've listened to this show and I love it.

18:15And has it ever gone wrong? Oh, yeah. Like when you, like the surprise guest is actually someone that's one of the other two hate or has had a bad relationship with. That's funny. Or some kind of. Yes. You don't have to say names. Don't have to say names.

18:36Sean Hayes:Well, I tell you what, Tim, it's funny you ask, because I got, not in trouble, but about six months ago, guys, I did this guy's podcast in the UK, this really funny dude, Romesh. He's a hilarious dude. And I mentioned that we'd had a couple of guests that didn't go so great. And everybody I knew asked you guys, right, and asked me who I was talking. I didn't say who. But we had a couple that didn't go so shit hot.

19:04Will Arnett:Give us the names now, Will.

19:07Sean Hayes:It's just us. But we have had, yeah, and you have, as you know, I mean, it's, we all kind of are in, we do the same, we work with a lot of people and we know a lot of people and we know, and there's a lot of crossover and there are certainly times where you have people who are hurt or whatever, and there are times where you have people on you who you're like, yeah, I got history with this person.

19:28Will Arnett:But it's never gone wrong, like the reason the episodes have not aired is not because there was anything contentious or something like that. It's more just like, that was sort of like not really a flowing interview and just to protect the guest mostly. It's like, they don't need that out there. They were sort of tight or we were tight and it's just not an entertaining thing. And so we just, we scrap it. We do so many of these things.

19:51Sean Hayes:And we also, sorry, I was demanding to say that...

20:04Sean Hayes:that we always once we get on i think that you guys chime in too that we want i always want it to go well like i want it to go i'm always rooting for the person no matter who it is i want it to be good yeah always is yeah i just was i was curious about like like two of you don't know who the next guest is going to be. Correct. So what if you had an affair with somebody

20:28Will Arnett:that was previously undisclosed and it ended poorly. Guess what? We're way too close. We know each other's dead bodies and everything. I see. When there is somebody that we know the other person has mentioned before as maybe not being their favorite person, we will sort of break our little rule and say, hey man, I was thinking about having such and such on. Are you guys good? Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to tell you when, but yeah.

20:56Sean Hayes:We don't say when, and people do ask. We legit, the other two legit don't know who the guest is going to be on that day. So there is, as JB says, there might be like down the road, like, hey, but we never let them know. I like that element of surprise about it. Yeah. I think that's a good thing. Well, what's funny is, and we know this, is the audience knows who's on because we advertise who the upcoming guest is. So we're the only two idiots that don't know. It's just for us, I guess.

21:21Will Arnett:It's just to save the homework. Right. And we will be right back. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first, but didn't live up to the hype? Yeah, I wasted a lot of money buying a car when I was 21 years old. I spent way too much on it. It just, it never worked, and I didn't know what I was doing. Marketers know that feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great like impressions, but they don't see revenue. LinkedIn has a word for that, bowl spend. Instead, you can get the highest ROAS of major ad networks with LinkedIn ads. Cut the bowl spend. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend$250 and get a$250 credit.

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25:27And now back to the show.

25:31Sean Hayes:Tim, so let's... So I mentioned Bill Dorman. You auditioned for that. And talk a little bit about, so you grew up, I mean, your parents were musicians, right? You grew up in the city. Really? Yeah. And your folks were musicians. And so when did you know that you weren't going to go in the family business necessarily be a musician and that you were going to go, but you were going to perform as an actor? I probably got the bug from watching my dad on stage with his group, The Highwaymen. He was a folk musician. And I remember specifically, not very clearly, but the audience responding to him saying something and laughing.

26:17I felt that was like the entry point. That was the moment my three-year-old or four-year-old self was like, hmm, I want that. Yeah. So he became, you know, he went out on the road until 1965 with them, and they made several albums together. I had the music bug, though, too, as well. Acting I started in grade school, but music I also had. And I actually, I'm glad you bring that up because I've been working the past couple weeks on some mixes of some concerts I've done. I have a band called the Rogues Gallery Band. Really? And we occasionally will perform live. We've done tours of Europe and the United States, and we recorded several of those shows.

27:24So I'm mixing a couple of them right now. I'm opening a kind of new website, performance kind of platform where... What's the website? It's timrobbins.com.

27:38Sean Hayes:Okay. And it'll be launching... That was available? And how'd you come up with the name? I fed it through an AI computer to tell me what would be the best available. Do you play guitar and sing? I play guitar and sing, and I write most of the songs. We do some covers, but usually covers that are really not well-known songs. The Rogues Gallery started as a band put together by Hal Wilner, and it was originally the albums they made were about sea shanties with all kinds of different guests, guest artists. And Hal was such a genius and one of the angels in my life. He used to work at Saturday Night Live.

28:33Yeah, I was going to say.

28:35Sean Hayes:Yeah, not well, but I knew him a little bit, yeah. And so I'm on this new site. I don't want to call it a website because it's sort of like. It's a destination. It's an experience. Yeah, whatever. It's my. Portal. It's a portal. Basically, it's my way of like. Stop saying portal. My portal. That's good. Portal. Tim Robbins Portal.

29:04I have a storage unit that I have so much stuff in and I want to get rid of. That's what they're for. So I was looking through some boxes in there and I found some old videotapes of... I used to mess around on sets with old school video camera. You know, the ones where you could load the entire video cassette in. Yeah, the VHS thing. Sure.

29:29Will Arnett:You'd shoot like behind the scenes stuff of projects you were on? Yeah, but it would be more like stories that I was making up, right? Yeah, right. I have one from Howard the Duck. Yeah, and so I made up a story about, you know, what was this intrigue that was happening on the set of Howard the Duck. And I did two with Howard the Duck. I did one that was about this actor that goes to set and everybody hates. And the other was about this place called Kiddy Land that we were filming at. And it was this location we kept going back to because there was always a shot that they needed. And so you thought you were finished with Kiddy Land and it would not end.

30:17I was on that movie for six months. It was supposed to be three. and the last six weeks of it were the ultralight sequence, which is like maybe five minutes in the film. So it was pretty extraordinary. So I was going a little crazy. And so I had this video camera and I had friendships with the crew members and we would, you know, just make shit up.

30:41Will Arnett:So you sat there and you were watching this video after going through your storage unit? Yeah, so I said, I want to put that out there. I think people would like this. I also have all these interviews with people like, you know, Johnny Cash and Kurt Vonnegut and Harry Belafonte. And I, you know, I've never released them. Wow. Did you remember these or did they just come back to you as you were going through the storage unit and you started seeing all these tapes? Did you sit down and have like a weekend of going down memory lane that must have been really kind of powerful? Those journeys can be powerful and dangerous too.

31:19Right. Old versions of ourselves. I know. And what it means and what was I thinking. So you have to give a listen and make sure that you weren't an idiot at the time that you were doing this. But I think there's some good stuff here. And the people that have been working with me are, you know, they're the ones kind of driving. They were like, why aren't you doing anything with this stuff?

31:42Will Arnett:So these are up on timrobins.com or you're in the process of doing that? No, it won't be up till September 1st. Oh, okay. Yeah. But that's like a visual, you know, people say, you know, you should write a book. You know, but like this sounds like a kind of like a visual book. I mean, it's really cool. It's multimedia. It is.

31:58Sean Hayes:TeamRobbins.com is a multimedia experience. It's a portal. Exactly. It's a portal for everything. Thank you, guys. This is my marketing team. All right. What else can we call it? I've got this thing called Robbins Radio, which is going to be my live shows. my father's albums and my brother, who is a film composer, his scores. And it'll be on a kind of random play, continuous when you come to the website. Dude, that's cool. Yeah, I'm excited by it. It is like a living archive. But it's also just been a lot of fun to do. And at the same time, I am actually writing a memoir so it's all just coalescing and I'm trying to find stuff that might be interesting.

32:51Do you have a name for the memoir yet? No I don't.

32:53Sean Hayes:Say timrobbins.com

32:55Will Arnett:No poor timrobbins.com timrobbins.com on paper

33:02Sean Hayes:Tim you used you used music in I was just thinking about the life and tires of timrobbins.com yo that's good Oh, that's really good. And it'll drive people to the website. They'll buy the book, and the website's right there on the cover. By the way, you open the book, and it's just a hyperlink to the website. It's a QR code. It's a QR code. It's a one page. Oh, my God, it's so good. Oh, it would be so cheap to make. The publisher would be stoked. Do you think you—I was just thinking about your dad and the highwaymen.

33:36Will Arnett:No, wait, the highwaymen. Wasn't that Bob Dylan? No, that was, no, I think you're thinking of the Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Hyverman. Willie Nelson might have been in that. And that's not it? No, that was, no, this was in the early 60s. Okay. Before your time. Sure, barely. It was, yeah, 1960 to 65 were their years.

33:58Sean Hayes:But you took, I was thinking about, I think the first film you directed was Bob Roberts, right? Am I right in that? Yes. And that was about a guy, which is a great movie, about a guy who is like a right-wing politician, but he uses folk music to kind of sell what he's doing. And it was like a confluence of this guy kind of used media and personality. And in a lot of ways, it was very sort of prescient, if you think about it, of considering where we are these days. Unfortunately. I mean, it was a little... Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty... Can you... Do you ever think... Have you thought back on that over these last years and gone like, wow, we kind of predicted the way politics might go in terms of the celebrity aspect of it.

34:46Yeah, you know, yes, it's weird. But also I was looking, you know, going through all this stuff, realizing that at the time when I was doing press for it, I was also, in some of the interviews, they were saying, is this, you know, is this, because the coming election was George Bush Sr. versus Clinton when it came out. And so the press was asking, you know, is this movie about Bush? And I said, well, he's actually in the film. You know, there's clips of him in the film. But it also could be about, you know, the Gore Vidal character too. You know, it could be about why change doesn't happen. And so when Bill Clinton was playing his saxophone on Insanio Hall, I was like, hmm, that's kind of Bob Roberts-y too.

35:40Yeah. So at the time, I said, you know, it could be either. I don't know. I really don't know. So as time has gone on, it's become kind of, you know, very prescient as far as the current administration. but I personally am not a happy guy with either. I got to say there's got to be better ideas and better motivation for people to vote for Democrats. They have to get their stuff together. They really do.

36:15Sean Hayes:Yeah, I think there's a lot of shortcomings. No shortage of shortcomings. I've learned at 65, you know what I did is I realized I have to retire from something, right? I didn't want to stop acting. I didn't want to stop directing or writing. So what I retired from was the anxiety, the daily anxiety of opposing something. Oh, that's good. The idea that you can find your worth and purpose and virtue by hatred is this terrible, terrible idea. and the idea that if the source of your hatred is this particular person you don't know, it's even a worse idea. You're battling a concept or an idea or a philosophy.

37:06You're not dealing with an individual. Right. And so I feel like there's too many people that wake up agitated about political figures.

37:17Will Arnett:And then they use that as a fuel to get through the day. That's so true. On either side. And it's not a good way to start your day. The first thing you're doing is doom scrolling about something that will make you feel better about your political beliefs. You know, you might try a little yoga or you might try a little exercise or take a bike ride. Totally, because I always say that, I have this discussion with Scotty all the time, you can watch it all day long on TV or read about it online or whatever, but there's nothing you can do about it necessarily. We have the power to vote and we have the power to protest, but to actually, you know, my friend Maria Shriver, she always, one of the greatest quotes ever.

37:57If anybody's complaining about any of it, she goes, I totally agree, so what are you doing about it? Yeah, right. And it stops people in their tracks. Well, here's the thing. This is what I learned was that, what are you doing about it? Well, about 15 years ago, I had that epiphany of like, what are you doing about it? And I started working in spaces where I could make a difference. So with my nonprofit, with the Actors Gang. So I put a lot of attention into how can I expand the programs that we have, the education programs that we go into schools that do not have theater programs and we introduce them to theater.

38:40the prison project that we have that goes into California state prisons. What is that? It's a rehabilitation program that we've been doing for 20 years now. Through theater and acting and stuff like that? It's basically, I made a documentary about it actually. I know, that's why I asked. I feel like I saw it. It's called 45 Seconds of Laughter and it will be coming to Criterion in November. Oh, then I saw something else. Yeah. you may have seen it. We've screened it around. We went to the Venice Film Festival and to the New York Film Festival. No, what we do is we don't go in, as some groups do, and I think that's valid too, but we don't go in to do a production.

39:22We don't try to make a production. What we do is we do a seven-day intensive workshop to train them, which is basically in the four states of emotion that we have. And we introduce these states of emotion, but first we introduce the characters they will be playing them in. So we create a distance between their expression of emotion and their personal story. So we use the Commedia dell 'arte. So you have the rich old man who wants to marry off his beautiful daughter who's in love with a young man. He wants to marry her off to one of his business associates. It's a tale as old as the time. It's done in every culture.

40:08It's told in every culture. I saw it in Bali in a town square. But the reason is it keeps the characters simple and stock kind of characters. And then we try to get them to genuinely portray emotions through these characters. Wow. So what happens is they get in touch with emotions that they have kept dormant or suppressed for many, many years. Survival in prison is one emotion. It's anger. It's about keeping safe on the yard. You have to project an image of anger. And so when they start playing these other emotions, some of them tell us that they haven't been allowed to be sad or in fear or happy for years.

40:58And so it allows them this place. The other great thing about it is when we set a program up, we ask the prison to give us people from different sections. Like it has to be integrated with different gangs, different, you know, so they're all in the same room. And what we find out happening is this bond that happens in the room between them when they're sharing emotions together and looking in each other's eyes and realizing that they have a lot more in common. I mean, imagine if we could do that for people who aren't in prison. That's what set me on this path of like, if these guys can do it, we can do it.

41:39You know, we have created our own yard where you have segmented populations that stick together. And if anyone crosses over the line, it's at their own detriment. Right. And that's the way it is now in our society. If you say anything that might be sympathetic to what you view as the other side, then you're done. You're out. You're done. You're condemned. And listen, it's a terrible way to build a movement. Let's just put it that way. When a good organizer walks into a room to organize a movement, they have the main objective is to find out what all these different people have in common. There's going to be, they have to walk in knowing they're not all going to agree with them.

42:36So what can we agree on? Right. It seems like the opposite now. It seems like in order to save your position in a certain community, you have to act in a certain way. And if you act outside of that, then you're kicked out of the community. Yeah, that's right. And that's on both sides, by the way. That's not a partisan thing. That's something that happens on both sides. And that's not a good way to build a movement. I totally agree. Because basically you're saying you have to agree with me or you're done. And then so people learn very quickly, oh, well, I shouldn't talk. I shouldn't say anything.

43:16I won't say anything. I, even though I don't agree with what they're saying, I'm not going to say it. And so that's not an alliance. That's fear that's causing that. Right.

43:30Will Arnett:We'll be right back. Did you ever notice the best deals are just obvious? Like hotels.com. What do they do, you may ask? Hotels on the internet. And a lot of them, like hundreds of thousands. I don't know why I just turned into Sean Hayes. Plus, if you join for free, you can save up to 20 % instantly with member prices and you earn rewards every time you book. So your next trip basically starts paying for itself. It's simple and you get more out of every stay. Sign up for free and book today. Hotels.com. It's all in the name. This episode is brought to you by 20th Century Studios, The Dog Stars, only in theaters and IMAX, August 28th.

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45:15On Broadway, I always leave Gatorade backstage. The second I exit, I down it because I know it's going to hydrate me in the best way I can, and it tastes great. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Signs of mild to moderate dehydration? Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.

45:40and back to the show

45:43Sean Hayes:Tim did you get involved with the prison stuff when you when you did because I was thinking about Dead Man Walking which is your second film which is so different from Bob Roberts in every way is that when you first started getting involved with that or becoming really aware of that I was kind of aware of it growing up I had friends that went to jail so it wasn't it was it was one of those you know there but for the grace of God go I. I had maybe different parents or different upbringing that kept me away from that. And then I did some work with some prison organizations back in New York when I first, you know, after Bill Durham.

46:24But then I did Shawshank and then Dead Men Walking. So I was around that space more and more. and one of the things I, you know, one of the prison guards on Shawshank said to me was, you know, I asked what would you do to change things if you could, you know, and these are salt of the earth, Republican, conservative, Ohio kind of prison guards. And the guy said, you know, you got to legalize drugs because what we have is we have people coming in for possession for a year and they're winding up becoming better criminals. Basically, they call it crime school. The prison guards were calling it crime school.

47:14And so basically they said there's no GED programs, no job training. Those are year waiting lists. So these kids come in and they have to survive with violent offenders and they basically are training criminals. So you've got to either legalize it or create a separate prison.

47:35Will Arnett:And did they, since then, there has been movement there, right? It certainly legalized marijuana to a large extent. Yes? Yes. I don't know if it's that way in Ohio. Okay. Yeah.

47:49Sean Hayes:I made a far inferior prison film called Let's Go to Prison. That's right. If you ever get it for the afternoon. This is a production. What a feature. Yeah, and by the way, Tim, I love that you just rattled off those movies that are so huge, iconic. I know, Shawshank. I was going to hear Shawshank. Your friends that were in prison must have watched you in Shawshank and be like, wait, how did he break out? I got to take something. I got to figure that out. People must still stop you on the street about Shawshank. It is one of the iconic, I mean, it's always at the top of people's list when people go like, what's your favorite movie?

48:22Sean Hayes:Shawshank's always there.

48:24Will Arnett:Yeah, that's a real beautiful thing. Bull Durham, right next to it. Yeah. I was going to say, I was going to ask you what today you get stopped for mostly when you go to the store or you're out in public. I was going to guess Shawshank Redemption or Bull Durham. But then I was like, but Silo, which I watch and you're fucking brilliant on. Which by the way, season three is coming. I know, I can't wait. Tim, when you showed up on, I had no idea you were in that. Because we're sci-fi nerds, right? Dungeons and Dragons, everything sci-fi. And I watched, I was just like, Your performance is just incredible in that.

48:59Thank you. Yeah, I really love the show. Do people stop you now, like nerdy kind of? Yeah, yes, nerdy and others too. Yeah, a lot of people are seeing it. It's really nice. It's really nice. I really love it. And it's such a good show. Rebecca Ferguson is a great actor. She's amazing on it. So good. I, you know, I've had a blast on it. You know, I was shooting over, we were shooting over in London. So it was a real human experience, let's put it that way. Ten-hour days, never going over because there's never any weather. It's always in the silo. Everything is in the silo. Right, right. And I actually now can talk because this is airing in mid-August.

49:51I've been under like kind of a gag order shut the hell up kind of thing about the show because I wasn't supposed to be in season three oh

50:01Sean Hayes:it's funny Sean just ordered a gag but that's a different okay also coming in August also coming in August I can't wait they're back ordered did you get the ball option too yeah of course I did and I paid extra to get it here sooner but does that come in Hello Kitty star. Of course. And Dora the Explorer. What happened? What was the... I just want to say a little bit more about Silo. Yeah. We would... The thing about human is that it allows the crew to have lives. If you work in 10-hour days on rolling lunches and everyone knows they're going to get home for dinner with their kids, it creates a happy crew.

50:51Absolutely. You get people that, you know, the younger people, they have time for a date. You know, it's not driving you into the ground, you know, and I really, I was really inspired by that. You know, that's Graham Yost, the executive producer. That's his achievement. He created a great group of people and he created an environment that wasn't oppressive. That, you know, we tend to take for granted now You know, we just know, oh, we're going to go 12, 14, you know, 16 to get the day, you know. And I've done it as an actor and as a director. And I never stopped to think really until I worked with Clint Eastwood when we had like six-hour days, seven-hour days.

51:37Like most of the time we were out by lunch. Wow. Because you would only do one take on everything. Wow. But it created a discipline and more family. It created this idea that we used to have, I think, in the business of this can be really fun.

51:56Will Arnett:What about directing, Tim? Do we get to see some more of your great directing anytime soon? Well, as a matter of fact, yes. I'm working on what that is on the long term. Yeah. I'm writing a couple scripts right now, which I'm kind of reluctant to jinx, right? Yeah. Sure, yeah, yeah. But I'd love to see you write one that you star in and direct about somebody doing what you were talking about earlier, about, you know, figuring out how to not be so sort of tribal with their beliefs and practices and passions and things like that and trying to be more sort of inclusive. And you're the kind of guy that could handle something as, you know, kind of nuanced and delicate as that.

52:44Well, thank you.

52:45Will Arnett:Where's the conflict? We need that story. Where's the conflict? Well, there could be a bag of money and a gun, you know. I mean, yeah. Perfect. Perfect. We got it. Yeah, I remember, Tim, I don't know if you remember this. We probably don't, but everybody asks, how did you meet Jason, Sean, and Will? How did you guys all meet? We met playing poker. I mean, we kind of knew each other before that, but we really started hanging out when we were playing poker. I was like 27, 28, 29, and you would come over and play poker too sometimes with us. At Cage's house. Yeah, Kyle Gass. Yes. That was so wild for me, who just got off the boat from Chicago.

53:23I'm like, I'm playing poker with Tim Rops. I told all my friends. It was so cool. I just loved it. It was so wild for me. But you probably don't remember. I do remember those games. Yeah, yeah. Yes, absolutely. But there was an element at Cage's that, you know. Oh, sure. Would lead one to forget.

53:42Will Arnett:Yeah. You'd have to crack a window every once in a while. This dude, for the listeners, should know that this dude had a,

53:48Sean Hayes:in his living room was dominated by a custom-made 12-man poker table. Right, yeah. And he was the bank as well, which...

53:56Will Arnett:Served as a kitchen table, the kitchen counter, the dining room.

53:59Sean Hayes:Sean, one of the first times that you came, Sean came in, and I think you went all in on like three of your first five hands, and you took a bite, and then you were like, oh, my God, it's so late. Remember, it was Tuesday nights. It was often Tuesday. You're like, it's Tuesday night. You'd be like, oh, I got to go. and everybody's like, you're not going anywhere. Right. I'm like, oh, okay. Dumbass. Like, great. They want me to stay. I had a running Friday night poker game on Silo. Oh, really? And Common was the, you know, he was that guy that walks in and goes, I've never played this before. Uh-oh.

54:33Mm-hmm. And all of a sudden, and by the way, he wasn't bullshitting. He hadn't. And, you know, he'd be, and of course, the cards are going to drop on him. Yeah. And he would win almost every time. It was insane.

54:49Will Arnett:Were you playing Texas Hold 'em or Dealer's Choice? Texas Hold 'em. Yeah. God, I remember those games. Will, how do you remember Tuesdays? Like, it was Tuesday because I know. I just thought about the same thing as soon as he said that. Crazy.

55:01Sean Hayes:It was so, there were a couple people who came in who had first night luck too. Richter did. Andy Richter did one time. And then I remember 80 Miles came in and did the same thing. And, yeah, I don't know, Tuesday nights. The Commons went into second and third night. You know, I won the first week, hands down, right? And I realized I can't win every week. You know, I can't do this. Not a good luck. So I kind of was an idiot the second night. And that's when Common won. And then he went on a string, like three or four, five. Until Rebecca showed up in the last poker game and she won. That sounds like fun, man.

55:37First night. You always shoot in London the whole time, Silo? Silo, yeah. Yeah, I was over there for three years, really. I mean, back and forth, but a lot of time over in London in the past five years. How do you like living over there? I loved it. I loved it. But I'm going to love anywhere I'm living right now. It's like, why not think that every place you're in is the best place in the world? Yeah. Right. Right? There's so much to do in London. There's also a lot to complain about. But I was just like, well, how crazy is my life? How great is my life that I'm being forced to live in one of the world's great cities for like almost three years?

56:18Will Arnett:Will doesn't like it much.

56:19Sean Hayes:Will's not a big one. I love London. I love London. I want to ask, I was just thinking about this before we let you go, Tim. And JB, kind of for you too a little bit. Because I remember we were working on my thing with Bradley. I would ask, like, you guys, as actors who are also directors, have such a luxury of working with directors and really good directors. And we get to do that as actors, but also then to do that as directors, you get to observe and have that experience with a lot of great directors. How did working with directors as an actor then influence you as a director? It must have, right?

57:03Absolutely. You get it. Yeah, you know it. So you know what they're going through. You know what their process is. One thing I've also understood is the actor will give you the truth. If you're directing someone and you go in with an idea that you know how the scenes should be played, that's a bad idea. Because you're cheating yourself from two really good artists that are going to interpret something. And oftentimes when they can't say a line or they keep messing up a line, it means the line needs to be changed. They're the truth through line. The director has to modulate their performances so that it fits into what they're trying to construct.

57:52But, you know, deep respect for actors because they're going to tell you a lot. and hopefully they'll tell you in a way that is not upsetting a set or something. Hopefully you have a good relationship and that you can find as much as you can out from them and then guide it towards what your truth is.

58:13Will Arnett:Yeah, that's really well said. The tricky part sometimes is that the director is somewhat obligated and I would say it's sort of required that they come in with a plan such that everyone who is obligated to follow them has something to follow and there's a strategy to get the call sheet done that day and everything but oftentimes that plan can be at odds with like what you're saying tim about how the actor might have a completely different idea or perspective or or interpretation of what the scene is about and how it should be played that could be at odds with some of the the plans for the camera work and whatnot that that have been in in effect for months through prep and tech scouts and all that stuff So there's a balance to strike there that's often somewhat tense because it's the day you have to shoot it and there's not a lot of room for reinterpretation.

59:03Right, and that's where your talent as an actor when you're directing comes in. Exactly, to try to talk them into your way.

59:12Sean Hayes:Yeah, exactly. Do you guys remember moments where you did a scene, where you're directing a scene and an actor did something that so surprised you in the best way that you were like, fuck, yeah. Yes, absolutely. Like, mind-blowing stuff sometimes. You know, it's like, no, it's like, it's that moment where you go, we don't have to shoot this scene anymore. It's, this is, this is done. This is like, that truth has been laid down.

59:40Will Arnett:Or you don't need coverage of the other actor because this actor is killing it here. I'm just going to want to watch them listen and talk. Yeah. The guy's like, wait a second, are you turning around? and you're like, no, no, we got it. No, we're done. We got it.

59:52Sean Hayes:Oh, man. Tim, we've taken up way too much of your time. Man, what a pleasure, dude.

59:57Will Arnett:My pleasure. It's also good. Yeah, it was very nice of you to come talk to us. My pleasure.

1:00:01Sean Hayes:Yeah. And Silo Season 3, Silo Season 3 is happening. It's coming, it's on? Is it? It's on right now. It's on now. It's on right now. You may or may not be in it. Well, now I'm in it. I wasn't in it until the end of July. Right. And now we're somewhere in August. and the truth has been revealed. I'm actually alive and I really love this show. I really stand by it 100%. It's a great, great show. Great writers, great actors, great everything. Crew, everything was so beautiful about it. I love that at this stage of my career I can go to a set and really kind of fall in love again and with people. In that old way you'd had when you were young, you'd walk on a set and you're like, oh my God, this is the best thing ever.

1:00:58I felt that about these people on Silo. I felt it. That's great. So great. I love that. Such a great crew.

1:01:04Sean Hayes:Well, Silo Season 3, timrobbins.com. It's a multimedia portal. We've been through that. Coming September 1st. Coming September 1st. Very good, very good. Tim you're just you're just you're an icon you're the best and thanks for the inspirational words today some of those really really cool stuff thank you thank you guys appreciate it

1:01:27Will Arnett:yeah alright thanks dude enjoy your day bye buddy the great Tim Robbins the great Tim Robbins the movies he's been in I know we didn't really talk did you guys see Arlington Road oh wow no I did not I wanted to such a good movie I don't think I ever saw I mean, I haven't seen it in such a long time, but I remember loving that movie. He plays some, like, psychotic, or some, it's like about a small town that turns on them, or he turns on them. What about Jacob's Ladder? Wait, did you see it? It sounds like you didn't even see it. I did, and I loved it, but I haven't seen it in decades. It was so good.

1:02:02Will Arnett:Jacob's Ladder was one of the greatest movies ever. Jacob's Ladder was great. I have not seen it for years and years and years. I don't know if it holds up, but man, I saw it a few times back then. I bet you it does. And him in War of the Worlds, did you see War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise in? Spielberg film, right? Yeah. Really good. He was so good at that.

1:02:18Sean Hayes:Dude, think about The Player. Right. Remember how groundbreaking that was? The Player was amazing.

1:02:23Will Arnett:What the fuck did we just talk about for an hour? I know. Why didn't we cover any of this shit, Barnett? Sorry. You better drive that fucking interview.

1:02:30Sean Hayes:No, but he was teaching us stuff about life, man.

1:02:33Will Arnett:He was, yeah. Just open up your mind, Sean. I love that we're talking about... Who are you mad at? Me or Sean? Yeah. I love that we fan out after he leaves. I know, I know. I know. Well, we did it before. We get shy. Yeah. We get shy.

1:02:48Sean Hayes:I know, because I'm like, I'm like, Shawshank Redemption, right? Do you remember? I've seen that movie a hundred thousand times. God, is that so good. And Dead Man Walking. What a director he is. By the way, Dead Man Walking is his second film.

1:03:01Will Arnett:I think Sean Penn won the Oscar for that, didn't he? He did. I think he did, yeah. I remember when my dog had cancer and I was taking for his last walk around before we put him down. I said to his face, I said, it's dead dog walking. Oh. It felt so bad. And he laughed. He laughed, didn't he? He laughed. Oh, he laughed. In that way, he used to laugh.

1:03:19Sean Hayes:Oh, the laughter. Aw, poor little Buzzy. Remember Buzzy? And he was also in, you know, I was thinking about the other film that he was in. Here it comes. Well, I...

1:03:34Will Arnett:You could always hear the little turn off the highway. Let's get to the off-ramp, Willie. What's the name of the off-ramp today?

1:03:45Will Arnett:it's so sweaty what is it yeah and do you remember that one film yeah what's this one called

1:03:54Sean Hayes:he had a great part of that movie bye fidelity oh god

1:04:00Will Arnett:that is terrible bye

1:04:04Sean Hayes:bye bye

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1:05:13Have you seen Widow's Bay on Apple TV yet? It was just nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, the most for a freshman series this year, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Lead Actor for the always fantastic Matthew Rhys. Matthew plays the mayor of a cursed seafaring New England town with more than its fair share of demons. Widows Bay also scored Emmy nominations for stars Stephen Root, Kate O 'Flynn, Dale Dickey, Betty Gilpin, and Hamish Linklater. To watch episodes of Widows Bay, go to fyc.appletv.com.