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FDIC Oh, we

1:23

made it. Hello

1:43

everybody and welcome to Literally, it

1:45

is me once again. I'm very

1:47

excited about this particular podcast because

1:51

it is a

1:53

talk with a former

1:56

family member and lovely

1:58

person and iconic

2:01

actress, two-time

2:03

Academy Award winner

2:06

Hilary Swank. To say

2:09

that we go back together

2:11

is the understatement of

2:13

all time. And

2:16

whether you watched her in Boys

2:19

Don't Cry, her first Oscar, or Million

2:21

Dollar Baby, her second Oscar, or

2:24

her new film out now, Ordinary Angels, she's

2:28

the cream of the crop and

2:31

so sweet. Why

2:42

am I feeling under the weather? Yeah,

2:45

you did the big press tour. I did the

2:47

big press tour for my movie, Ordinary Angels, which

2:49

opened Friday the 23rd and it was awesome.

2:53

They had me running all over New

2:55

York City and Los Angeles

2:58

and I got home and

3:00

you know how it is when you finish like

3:02

something like that. You just, your body just let

3:04

go. Oh. And here I am sick. Are you at

3:06

home on the ranch? I am

3:09

NOT on the ranch. I'm up in Washington State

3:11

now. Well, okay, so first things first,

3:14

so much talk about. So much to talk

3:16

about, Rob. I haven't seen you in how long? I

3:18

don't even want to say because it's sad. It's sad.

3:20

To say it's years is an understatement.

3:23

I mean, it's crazy and can we just go back

3:26

for one second? I know you're interviewing me, but. No, no,

3:28

you can please take full shots. I'm ready. You

3:30

know, you know when we met? When you,

3:32

I remember what year was, it was 993? Two.

3:38

92. And you know

3:40

what day it was? No. It was

3:42

Halloween. That's right. And you, you and

3:45

Cheryl had a awesome,

3:47

like one of the most awesome parties I

3:49

still to this day have ever been to

3:51

Halloween party. And I had

3:53

met Chad September 28th, 1992 and October 31st.

3:58

He goes, Hey, my brother's having a Halloween. party do

4:00

you want to come and it was

4:02

so much fun it was your house

4:04

up in Mulholland. Yeah sure. And

4:08

I learned how

4:10

to play celebrity. We played celebrity.

4:12

I remember that guy that was such

4:14

a fun game everybody used to play

4:16

that game all the time right. No

4:18

so much fun. Now at that time

4:21

was that right before 90210 for

4:23

you or after I'm trying to get it. Um

4:26

that was before 90210. So

4:29

90210 came much later.

4:31

I was at that time when I met you I was

4:33

just 18. Jesus Christ. And

4:36

I did 90210 when I was 23. Oh

4:39

wow. It was a lot later. I was on

4:41

an ABC show at that time called Camp

4:43

Wilder because Chad was also on

4:45

an ABC show at the time. That's

4:47

right. Oh my god that's

4:50

I mean we say we go back is the uh.

4:54

Understatement of the year. Understatement of

4:56

the century. That's true. So are

4:59

you in Colorado? I mean

5:01

is that where you live? We spend half

5:04

our time in Colorado and then half

5:06

our time in Washington state where I grew

5:08

up. I grew up in a town called Bellingham

5:10

and I'm here now. I um do

5:12

a lot of work in Vancouver so it's just

5:14

really easy to commute over the border. And when

5:17

I found out I was pregnant I was here

5:19

which was good because being in Colorado I live at

5:22

9600 feet. And

5:25

to be like put that in perspective you know how

5:27

hard it is on a plane that are pressurized at

5:29

8000 feet? That's right. That's

5:32

insane. 1600 feet higher. Yeah

5:34

it's crazy. Oh it's funny as

5:36

I get older I do less and less well

5:38

at altitude. And like I get up

5:40

to ski I can't sleep. I

5:43

know it's so so so crazy. And the thing

5:45

was is we found this property in 2016 we

5:47

bought and then we broke ground in 2018. And

5:54

by the way you guys I

5:56

should have called you because Cheryl is

5:58

like the best. at all of that stuff.

6:01

I should have picked her brain about it. You should have,

6:03

for sure. Because it's my first time building

6:05

from the ground up, but I

6:07

just got lucky with timing, with COVID

6:09

and everything, and lockdown. But the

6:11

point is that I didn't spend that

6:14

much time there before just buying

6:16

because it was beautiful. And then we got there and

6:18

we're like... And it's...

6:23

Tell me about those beautiful twins. Oh

6:26

my God. I can't believe you're a...

6:28

I mean, I can believe it, but you're

6:30

a new mom. It's unbelievable. I

6:33

know. But I mean, it's so late in

6:35

life, right? I mean, it's so much later. I

6:37

remember when you and Cheryl were pregnant with Matthew,

6:40

and back again up at Mulholland, remember

6:42

I took those great pregnancy pictures of you guys?

6:44

Totally. That's right. That's right.

6:47

I remember we were listening to... I

6:50

remember we were listening to, I remember it

6:52

was yesterday. It was, who thinks that you

6:54

did... Was it Michael McDonald? Yes.

6:58

Yes. You remembered. Michael McDonald? Or did you just

7:00

get it from my twin? No, no, no. I

7:02

remember that's what we were... By the way, still

7:05

very much jamming to Michael McDonald. But at that

7:07

point I was super into it. Yep. He's awesome.

7:10

Okay. So yes, my twins, I

7:12

am in heaven. By

7:15

the way, it's way more fun than

7:18

I ever imagined. And no one

7:20

really talks about that. Everyone's like, oh my

7:22

gosh, it's the best job in the world,

7:24

but it's the most exhausting job in the world, or

7:27

whatever you hear. But no one really talks about

7:29

how fun it is. That's right. Particularly

7:31

if you're down... I was

7:33

always really down to dress up as

7:36

Santa Claus, or

7:39

whatever. Kids like fun stuff. So

7:41

if you're down to have fun, it's

7:43

the best. Exactly. Exactly. It's just

7:46

so cool. Every day they're

7:48

doing something funny. They're so in the moment. It's

7:51

a reminder of what your priorities are. They're

7:54

just hilarious. How old are they now? Do

7:57

you have my bird in the background? Of course I hear your bird. What

7:59

bird? What is that? You guys used to have your African

8:01

Grey Stormy. Stormy, yeah. Stormy would walk in and

8:04

go, hi, I'm Stormy. Yeah. That's

8:06

Seuss. I'm a African Grey. Yes. No,

8:09

that is the famous Seuss. Yes.

8:13

And she hears me and hears... I swear she knows I'm talking

8:15

to you and she's going... That

8:18

is... Get me in there. Get me in

8:21

there. How... Okay, first of

8:23

all, how old are the twins and then how old is Seuss? Let's

8:26

see. I had a couple of years ago when

8:29

I was, what, 17 or 18? I

8:33

had one before, unfortunately, it passed away. So I had that

8:35

one at 16. This one, I got

8:37

at 18, which I would

8:40

never do now. You know, I was just

8:42

a teenager and I would never put a bird in a

8:44

cage, but we've been going the distance. I mean, I'm 49 now. Jesus.

8:47

I've had this bird, how long? How long

8:49

is that? That's insane. I'm horrible

8:51

with math at a long, long, long, long time. I'm horrible

8:53

with math, too. And Seuss will outlive both of us. I

8:57

know. They live 80, 90 years or something

8:59

like that. What's the greatest thing

9:01

you've ever heard your birds say? Oh, that's

9:03

a good question. Oh my God.

9:05

Let me think. There's so

9:08

many cute things. I mean, she still

9:10

says, she still sounds like Chad sometimes.

9:12

No. Yeah. They

9:15

like have that memory. They don't

9:17

forget anything. And Chad taught her

9:19

a monkey says, and

9:23

she totally commits to it. I mean, she sounds exactly like

9:25

a monkey. She still does that. When

9:27

you grab your keys, you're leaving. She goes,

9:29

goodbye. I love you. Oh, so sweet.

9:32

She's so fun. She's getting

9:35

a little, um, the short end of the stick

9:37

nowadays. Oh, for sure. But

9:39

we'll, we'll bounce her back up here

9:41

soon. And the twins are how old? They

9:43

turned 11 months old a few days ago. Oh

9:46

man. Well, congrats. You're gonna, I mean, you're

9:48

already, I mean, you

9:51

already got the message. It's the flipping all time

9:53

grace. But listen, I'm going to tell you that

9:55

the cliche that everybody says, and it's true, it

9:57

goes so fast, you won't believe it. You

9:59

realize. Matthew is 30. What?

10:04

Matthew Lowe is 30. So

10:06

Matthew was born when I was 19. He's

10:10

30. September 20th, right? He's September... What

10:13

is he? 20th. Yeah, he's September...

10:15

yeah, 22nd. 20th. He

10:17

has 20th. No, it's the 20th. Matthew's gonna listen

10:19

to this guy. I told you dad, you don't

10:21

remember anything. His birthday is September 20th. And

10:24

Johnny's 20th. You're like,

10:27

oh my god, is it? And Johnny's 28. I'm

10:29

not gonna talk to you. You're turning changed in

10:31

the subject. That's

10:34

insane. I can't even. And Hillary,

10:37

in two weeks, I'm 60. What?

10:41

I can't even. What's crazy

10:43

about it is you remember when you

10:45

would hear people say, I still feel

10:47

so young inside and then just... But

10:49

time's going by and don't you? Don't

10:51

you just feel like everything we're talking

10:54

about was just not that long ago?

10:56

Not that long ago. I feel exactly

10:58

the same. The only difference is sometimes

11:01

when I catch myself in the mirror, which is every

11:03

day, every second of the day, I

11:06

go, when did my dad show up here? Yeah.

11:09

You know what? You really do look a lot like your dad. I

11:12

go like... Your dad is so handsome. He's a good

11:14

look. That's not a bad person to emulate.

11:16

No, I'm lucky. He's a handsome dude. But I go, oh

11:18

my god, I'm becoming my father, which is the whole... How

11:21

old is your dad now? Is

11:24

that right? Yeah, he's 84. Amazing.

11:27

Still skiing. He's being well and healthy.

11:30

Yeah, he's well. Chad and

11:32

I were going to take him skiing this

11:34

year and then we both

11:36

had some work that came up and we couldn't, but

11:39

he's great. He hasn't changed at all.

11:41

He looks 55. I love that. Tell

11:43

him hi for me. I will. And you

11:46

look great. Thank you. And you too. Congratulations

11:48

on this show, by the way. Thank you. Thank

11:50

you. Cheryl says, send Hillary my love.

11:53

She was so excited. I mean,

11:55

everybody's listening to this thing. These two are just catching up

11:57

on family stuff, but we have to. We were a family

11:59

forever and ever. I mean, for

12:01

a long, long, long, 15 years. Okay, so

12:03

here are my, I'm going to go with

12:05

my favorite Hillary memories. My

12:08

all-time favorite thing, and the reason I

12:10

bring this up is because I think

12:12

it's super important for everybody in their

12:14

lives who feel like maybe

12:16

something didn't go their way, particularly young

12:18

actors didn't go their way. I can remember you up for

12:20

a pilot. I

12:23

don't remember what it was. And

12:26

you didn't get it. And this is my favorite feedback

12:29

ever. Do you know what I'm,

12:31

do you know the story I'm going to tell?

12:33

So the president of CBS, right? Yes.

12:41

It was a, it was a drama that you were up

12:43

for. Yes. And

12:46

the president of CBS was down to you and somebody

12:48

else. And they didn't go with

12:51

you. And his quote was,

12:53

Hillary swank is too multi-camera. Yeah,

12:58

like two half hour. Two

13:00

half hour. He said, yeah, like, like you're

13:03

just two half hour. Not even funny.

13:06

He didn't even say I was funny or comedic. I

13:08

was two half hour. People only want to spend a half

13:10

an hour with you. After 31 minutes, they would space it.

13:16

It's over. It's over. Like,

13:18

we'll see. Start your timer. Start your timer

13:20

on this podcast. If

13:22

you last more than 30 minutes with Hilary

13:24

and I on this, you have proved less

13:26

moon vests wrong. That's right.

13:29

I love that you even remember who it was.

13:31

Oh, hello. I mean, at that time, the

13:33

most powerful man in the business. And

13:35

only because you

13:38

didn't get that pilot or that show. I

13:40

was able to do Boys Don't Cry. Okay. So, and

13:42

we're going to talk about that in a second. My

13:45

many years later was producing a TV

13:48

series and starring in it.

13:51

And we cast a wonderful actress

13:53

who had just done a little

13:55

part in Catch Me If You Can

13:58

with Leonardo DiCaprio named Amy Adams. And

14:01

we did the pilot and the president of Warner

14:03

Brothers television said, I've got good news and bad news. Good

14:06

news is we're picking up the show. The bad news is

14:08

you've got to get rid of that actor. And

14:12

I was like, who was that? I was like,

14:14

why? And he said,

14:16

she's, well, he didn't use, he

14:18

used another phrase that you can probably guess, but,

14:21

but it was to the extent that she's

14:24

not sexy enough. Oh God. And

14:27

it was it. Now

14:29

we got in. That was Peter

14:31

Roth. Oh, Peter. And

14:35

so I had, I had, I

14:38

had to call Amy as the executive producer and, and,

14:40

and give her the news. And she

14:42

ended up doing six episodes for us and not the whole

14:44

show. Only because

14:46

she did six and not the rest. She

14:49

was able to do what? June bug. Fate

14:51

does not work in such mysterious ways. You've got to

14:53

trust, right? You've got to really trust. You've got

14:55

to really, really, really trust.

14:58

And it's not easy because it's not like,

15:01

you know, in your core. Yeah,

15:03

Hillary, you didn't get this great job. You wanted it.

15:05

But by the way, something great has come. Nobody tells

15:08

you that. You don't know that there's no way to

15:10

know that, but it

15:12

really is the, the

15:15

concrete evidence

15:17

of when a door closes

15:19

or doesn't even open. Another one does.

15:24

It's so true. And it's so hard to trust that,

15:26

right? Because like you

15:28

said, there's no for sure. But I

15:31

think if you just remain open, you

15:34

keep that energy open and let you feel it. Don't,

15:39

don't go, Oh, something better was happening. You know, I

15:41

felt it. I was like, this really sucks. And

15:44

I felt it. And then I moved on. Right.

15:47

And then here's my other favorite. Boys

15:49

don't cry stat. You

15:52

made $9 $75 a day. Yeah. $75

15:54

a day for how many days I'm in. I

16:00

guess it was 30 days shoot, something like that.

16:02

Yeah, something just under that, maybe 28. Yeah.

16:07

And then, the good news is that movie

16:09

breaks out like nobody's business because of your performance.

16:11

But then, like, that's all the money you've got

16:13

in the bank. That whole

16:15

next year, whether you're schlepping to every

16:17

film, I remember you at every

16:20

film festival, every, you're working your

16:22

ass off to promote it. You

16:24

don't even have the money to buy the nice dresses. That's

16:27

right. I love that you remember that.

16:29

I look back at some of that press stuff and

16:31

I was like, what was I wearing? Oh yeah, I

16:33

didn't have any money to

16:35

buy anything. And I was just getting by

16:37

as best I could. You

16:40

know, that's also such a reminder. I was just

16:43

so young, too, that like, remember

16:46

I signed with like a big agency

16:48

right soon after that because my agent

16:50

at the time was deciding that she

16:52

didn't know who's going to

16:54

be an agent anymore. And she said, you better look

16:57

around and it's fine. You know, take up some of

16:59

this opportunity. And I think that

17:01

this big agent was like, we're

17:03

going to make so much money. And

17:06

I was like, that's okay. But I

17:08

really want to make sure I'm doing really, you know,

17:11

work that resonates with me. Like work that's

17:14

important to me, work that challenges me as

17:16

an actor and as a human. And he's like,

17:19

well, yeah, I mean that too. But

17:24

it's just like, you know, in your 20s, it's like, that's not

17:26

what you're doing it for. No, for

17:29

sure. For sure. And your priorities can

17:31

change. I mean, now I have babies and I'm

17:33

definitely like looking at my work a little bit

17:35

differently. Like, I'm not going to,

17:38

it's got to check all the boxes. And one

17:40

of those boxes has got to be, I got

17:42

to make some money too, so that I

17:44

can do fewer things if I so choose.

17:46

Isn't it funny how like, like

17:48

I got super lucky that when I

17:50

had my boys, that it

17:52

coincided with television being a great place to

17:54

work because so I get to stay home.

17:57

Because otherwise I would have been on movie locations.

18:00

All of the time and you know, I

18:02

have this conversation with Jodie Foster all the

18:04

time who's who the minute she had kids

18:07

You know her priorities change and now it's like

18:09

yeah, we got to go we got to put

18:11

kids to college Yeah, you got

18:13

to buy diapers. I mean I got twins. I

18:15

go through 12 diapers a day It's unbelievable Red

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we break down and not the biggest stories in

20:32

politics and culture. The comedians, journalists, politicians and celebrities

20:34

have no idea why they're there. Where else can

20:36

you find Draglines? Wasn't a reporter Danny Devito renting

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about? We blurs antonio things rated be giving advice

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to strangers. Know where? That's where you can find

20:43

Love It or Leave It on Sirius Xm Pandora

20:45

wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to

20:47

follow the shows, you never miss an episode. About

21:01

the occurred to me, I think I've heard you

21:03

talk about it. That. He did.

21:05

You wouldn't get boys. don't cry today.

21:07

Yeah, Because. The beautiful thing is

21:09

is that now people are. We. Have

21:12

a long way to go. Still, the

21:14

people are more accepting as as trans

21:16

and they're. Gay. And lesbian people and

21:18

all different had to people they were lit

21:21

literally that time. It was like ground breaking

21:23

news that Ellen was gay. Like.

21:25

Was a great gradually. You

21:29

know people were worried that they work in a work

21:31

again. So. We were talking

21:33

about have very different time. And even

21:35

though here we are now in a

21:37

time where it's it's more except that

21:40

it's still not. It's still. A.

21:42

Scary time. To. Be

21:44

a trans person or a gay and lesbian

21:47

in this world and a lot different places,

21:49

even places in our. Own country and we

21:51

still have a long way to go. But yes,

21:53

to talk about the fact. That if this were

21:55

a movie that were being made now. there

21:57

would be trans people who would be a

21:59

decision and getting that opportunity.

22:02

Talk about a movie way ahead of its time. I

22:05

mean, that issue was not on

22:07

the radar whatsoever at all. That's

22:10

right, not at all. I mean, not

22:12

at all. I mean,

22:14

I think it's one of the first times that

22:17

I ever, I don't really watch

22:19

the news, and so I wasn't really aware

22:21

of what was happening until I read the

22:23

script and started digging into it and saw,

22:26

you know, people weren't even really talking about

22:28

it on the news. It was like a

22:30

blip if someone was murdered for being trans

22:32

or a gay or lesbian. It was something that

22:35

was just like flew under the radar. But

22:38

talk about just the blessing of being an actor

22:41

and a storyteller, so we get these opportunities to

22:43

walk in these shoes and see through people's eyes

22:45

in a way that we would never experience

22:47

had we not been

22:49

telling their story. How can you describe

22:51

if you even can? Because I thought

22:54

about it while it was happening and

22:56

I marvel at it

22:58

still, the notion of going from she's

23:03

two half hour to winning

23:05

the Academy Award in

23:07

basically a year. I know, I

23:09

should have been up there and said, thanks, Les Moonbags.

23:11

You should have. You should have. Or you

23:14

could have said, thanks to Chad. Oh

23:16

my God, right. It's the best thing ever. I knew

23:18

as I was. No, it's not the best thing ever. It's

23:21

terrible, but you know, I think one of the things is

23:23

is that when I had, like that

23:25

morning, we had our own little ceremony

23:27

and I thanked him. And I felt

23:29

like such a responsibility when I got

23:31

up on stage to talk about this

23:33

community and to talk about, I felt

23:36

like it was like a deep responsibility.

23:38

I was almost like this, like walking,

23:41

like I know these listeners can't see

23:43

my face, but I was like in

23:45

this like zone of make sure that

23:47

you talk about a community that needs

23:49

your voice. Yeah, I get it. And

23:51

I was so

23:53

in that. And I thought, of course, but the thing

23:56

was is I had a list and he wasn't

23:58

on it because I thought, well, you're done. never going

24:00

to forget your husband. Exactly. Sure. I

24:02

totally get it. And I knew, and I think

24:04

part of the way, the reason people remember it

24:07

so much is there's amazing shots of Chad watching

24:09

you, which are some of the gr- I mean,

24:12

it's so, God, just was the

24:14

best. It was just- It went

24:16

from like this closeup of his gorgeous

24:18

face, just completely in awe and

24:22

gratitude and disbelief

24:24

and like, I can't believe this is happening.

24:26

And then, so it looks like I'm looking

24:29

at him, right? Right. Yeah. Even

24:31

though he's out in the audience and you can't

24:33

even see him with all the bright lights in

24:35

your face. But yes, it looks like that.

24:39

And then was it a total rocket

24:41

ship ride to the next- what

24:43

was the next one? I know it's in the

24:45

filmography, but the next thing was-

24:48

Oh, the Chris Nolan movie, right? Oh.

24:52

Give me a Chris Nolan story. He's the man right now. No,

24:54

I think it was a Fair of the Necklace came

24:56

next and then- Oh, that's right. I

24:58

love that one. And I think then, yeah,

25:00

it was Insomnia was right after that.

25:03

And Christopher Nolan is genie-ed. Right.

25:06

I mean, it was really the only

25:08

time I've- I mean, Soderbergh is

25:10

very similar because Soderbergh has a

25:13

deep understanding of lenses and

25:15

stuff as well. I mean,

25:17

I haven't worked with Scorsese who obviously does as well

25:20

and many other people, but from

25:22

the people that I worked with, he

25:25

edits as he goes.

25:27

So if you're doing a scene, and

25:30

sometimes- I remember the very first scene I did

25:32

was actually by myself and I was looking through

25:34

the photos and

25:36

piecing stuff together. And I remember he came in

25:38

and he's like, I want to dolly in

25:42

on an 80 and then I'm going to stop right here

25:44

and I want to go up here in the corner and I

25:46

want to be on a hundred for this bit. And then let's

25:49

come over here and let's track around

25:51

on a 20. And he was so

25:53

specific, but he knew exactly where he was cutting. He

25:55

didn't do the whole scene on the dolly in the

25:57

80 and he didn't do the whole scene up here.

26:00

he cut exactly where he knew he

26:02

was going to use it. I

26:04

was like, wow. That was

26:06

one of those movies that I did

26:09

never go to my trailer. I just

26:11

sat on set and watched and absorbed,

26:13

especially Al Pacino and Robin Williams and

26:16

being still so. I think at that

26:18

point I was 26 or 27, and

26:22

I learned so much from Al. I

26:24

think you're good friends with Al too.

26:26

Cheryl was Al's makeup artist for many,

26:28

many years. Al's

26:32

always been a great supporter and he's

26:34

Al Pacino, man. I

26:37

learned so much from him and from

26:39

Chris. I didn't have very many scenes with Robin.

26:41

I think I only had one. But

26:44

what a great time that was. It's

26:47

funny you mentioned covering only

26:49

certain parts of shooting, only certain parts

26:51

of scenes in Soderbergh. The

26:54

first day I shot with Soderbergh on Behind

26:56

the Candelabra, it was a scene where Michael

26:59

Douglas and I meet at a doorway and hug.

27:03

We shot my side of it and

27:05

then I'm waiting for him to turn the cameras

27:07

around and shoot Michael. Stephen

27:09

goes, okay, good. Moving on. He

27:12

knew he was only going to

27:14

play that scene on mice. I was

27:16

shocked. Shocked. This is Michael

27:18

Douglas. You think you might want to film Michael?

27:22

He's like used to it, get

27:24

it. Then I don't know if he did this

27:26

on you. By the way, your movie was Stephen.

27:29

I love that movie. Logan Lucky, very, very great

27:31

movie. I don't know

27:33

what it was like on that. But when

27:35

the day we wrapped Candelabra, we did the

27:37

last shot and he said,

27:39

hey, guys, just take 20 and then we'll

27:41

do a little celebration. We all milled around.

27:44

He went off to where we

27:46

came back with a laptop and

27:49

pressed enter. He said the movie

27:51

is done. He

27:54

had his cut done before we left

27:56

the set. I remember, I remember

27:58

we didn't have time. He doesn't

28:00

rehearse. No. He's like Clint. He's like, we don't rehearse,

28:02

we just do it. I

28:06

remember asking him a question like, hey, we didn't

28:08

really get to talk about it or rehearse or

28:10

anything. I just have a question about this. I

28:12

thought I was doing something fun

28:14

with my voice and I was like, do I sound

28:16

like Clint Eastwood when I'm doing this? It doesn't work.

28:18

He goes, well, let me just look at it. I'm

28:20

going to cut it together. I'll have it all cut

28:22

together by tomorrow and I'll look. I was like, what?

28:25

Yeah. Clint

28:28

reminds me of a story Charlie Sheen told

28:31

me. We grew up together obsessed with

28:33

Clint. What young boy wasn't

28:36

obsessed with Clint? We used to film

28:38

backyard movies with our little video cameras.

28:41

One of us was always Clint as Dirty Harry. The

28:44

notion that Charlie grew up to star with Clint and

28:46

something was insane. I finally got to talk to Charlie.

28:48

He goes, what was it like? He

28:52

said, Clint, as you know, and I want to

28:54

hear your stories, but it doesn't rehearse, doesn't man

28:56

a few words. First day of

28:58

shooting, they've had almost no interaction. Charlie's

29:01

panicking, knocks on Clint's

29:03

door of his motorhome. Clint

29:05

says, yeah. He goes, it's

29:09

first day and everything and I just was wondering,

29:12

I don't know how you were thinking and what

29:15

we're going to do

29:18

today. Clint goes, I think we're going

29:20

to hit our marks and say

29:22

a few words. Sounds

29:25

exactly like him. Exactly. You

29:28

can do a good impression. He's easy. He's on the

29:30

Hall of Fame. That is very good.

29:32

I remember he did Mystic River right

29:35

before Million Dollar Baby and was nominated.

29:40

I think it was Sean. No,

29:43

Sean was in the movie before that. Wait, was

29:45

it Kevin? It was Sean. That's

29:47

right. It was Sean. Sean,

29:50

oh my God, that reminds me, remind me about

29:52

the Academy Awards too with Sean. It

29:55

was Sean. He said

29:58

something like, He showed up and he

30:01

was ready to go. Like

30:03

he said, there's no rehearsal, there's no talking about

30:05

it. And he did the accent and

30:07

everything. And Clint said

30:10

something like, oh, okay, so you decided to

30:12

do an accent. And

30:14

he's like, yeah. And

30:16

he goes, okay, sounds great. And

30:19

it's like, he didn't need to do it. He's

30:22

like, do it if you want, do it if you don't.

30:24

Because I said, I have quite, Maggie

30:28

Fitzgerald was from Theodosia. And

30:30

I said, she has a very specific accent. Can I

30:32

have a dialect coach? And he's like, well, if you

30:34

want to have one before, but you

30:36

can't have them on set. Ooh, interesting.

30:39

He's like, no gurus on set.

30:41

Wait, no gurus? That's the greatest thing

30:43

ever. No, I

30:46

want that as a bumper sticker. By the way,

30:48

there's the title for this episode. No

30:51

gurus on set. No gurus on set, so

30:53

good. You're doing him better than me right

30:55

now with my cold. If

30:57

I fully commit, I'm just gonna start coughing. The

31:00

best is Chad tells a story about

31:02

skiing with Clint. Oh

31:04

yeah. We've all been lucky enough to do, but

31:06

I guess you get invited up to the Clint

31:08

house, which is frozen in time in

31:11

1970. 70

31:13

something, maybe late 60s, 68, 72, somewhere in there. But

31:17

with the green telephone, the long

31:20

cord. Full on, it's like he

31:22

bought it, shag carpet, but it's all

31:25

miraculously really looks fresh and

31:27

clean. It's kept

31:29

up, he stepped back into that time. But

31:31

yeah, I think he stepped into our room.

31:33

Did he tell you that? This

31:35

is the story. Yeah, he goes, hey, what

31:37

is it? Yeah, he's like, well, if you

31:39

wanna go skiing, it's time to go. But

31:43

it's dark, and all you see

31:45

is his shadow backlit at

31:48

the door. And then he's like,

31:50

I'll be downstairs, leaving in 15. And

31:53

then you hear, he has birds, and

31:56

he has a bird on his shoulder, and

31:58

he's making his protein. shake and

32:00

to get ready to go skiing and he's

32:02

got a right, no, what's

32:05

the, I had it, the wood

32:07

side paneling Jeep, Jeep Wagoneer. The

32:09

Wagoneer, yeah. Which came with the house.

32:12

It's warming up outside and he's like,

32:15

we all pile in and there we go. Well,

32:17

if you want to go, time to go. Chad

32:20

said he had, he remembers coming into

32:23

the kitchen and just seeing Clint staring

32:25

out at the mountains as the sun is

32:27

rising behind them. Just

32:30

like, like, what is he thinking? I

32:33

know, right? And he's a great skier.

32:35

Great skier. It's a great

32:37

skier. Okay, tell me about the Academy Awards and Sean. Okay,

32:40

so I didn't know this.

32:42

I wasn't privy to this conversation. So

32:46

Sean won the year

32:48

before for Mystic River. So he was

32:50

presenting Best Actress the next year, which

32:53

was, I was nominated. I was

32:55

super blessed to be nominated again. And here we are

32:58

sitting with Clint and he's sitting right next to me

33:00

and Sean and him saw each other

33:02

at the bar, like

33:05

in the commercial before. So he had to go

33:07

to commercial, they come right back and it's Best

33:09

Leading Actress. Oh boy. And so Sean

33:11

is up on the stage and he

33:14

opens the envelope and he looks at

33:16

Clint for a long beat, but

33:19

his face didn't read anything. And

33:21

it looked like he was like, ah, sorry, buddy.

33:24

Oh my God. And so I was like,

33:26

oh, okay, well, you know, I have

33:29

one, I can't complain, but I'm sitting there and I

33:31

do think a little. And then he calls

33:33

my name. So it was like a double win. No

33:35

way. What? Yeah.

33:38

And after I was like, what was that face that

33:40

you did? And he said, when Clint

33:42

and I were at the bar together at the

33:45

commercial break, I told him I would give him a

33:47

sign if your girl won. And

33:50

his sign was a long, sad face? A

33:52

long, pregnant pause. That's why Sean Pan, because

33:54

he makes interesting choices. Exactly. I

33:56

was, by the way, by the way, I was a little bit of a

33:58

fan of Sean Pan. Anyway, people go, Rob

34:01

always tells his own stories on his podcast, but fuck

34:03

it, I don't care. Yeah, I tell your stories, but

34:05

I love that. Okay, well good. That's

34:07

the whole point. Don't people want to hear your stories? Every

34:09

once in a while somebody's been on an Apple board saying,

34:11

I wish Rob would stop telling his stories, I want to

34:13

hear Hillary's. Well, we heard Hillary's story. Now

34:16

we're going to hear one of mine. So

34:18

I was giving out the

34:20

best actor in a comedy, Emmy. I'm

34:24

in the car in the way, phone rings. That's

34:26

Charlie Sheen, who I haven't spoken to in 15 years. He's

34:31

nominated for two and a half men. He

34:33

goes, dude, dude. That

34:35

sounds like him. He goes, the

34:38

odds of me winning are one in 59, whatever

34:41

the fuck they are. Because I'm going to put $5 million

34:44

down in Vegas. You

34:46

read my name and we'll split the money. And

34:51

I'm like, You are kidding me. Oh no, I'm not

34:53

kidding. I am absolutely 100% not

34:55

kidding. And I go,

34:57

ha, that's hilarious. That's great. No,

34:59

dude, let's do it. I go, you're the best. I love you.

35:02

All right, see at the ceremony click. If I'm too

35:04

sick of that, bing, bing, bing, bing. I'm telling you, we

35:07

can do this. It's going to be great. And

35:09

I realized he's serious. And

35:12

I go, all right, Charlie, look, here's the

35:14

thing. Let's think this through. I opened the envelope. It

35:16

is going to, I can tell you right now, it

35:18

is going to say, Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock. It

35:21

is. It said that every year. I

35:23

was going to say it this year. And

35:26

I go, what do I, what do you do with the

35:28

paper? He goes, you eat it. He goes, I'll cause a

35:30

scene coming up and you eat it. That's

35:38

crazy. Like the people

35:40

that did the counting wouldn't

35:42

say something. That's

35:44

hilarious. And by the way, you

35:47

should keep telling stories like that

35:49

and tell your listeners, that's a

35:51

worthy story. I mean, good. Tell stories like

35:53

that. It's worthy. I mean, I got

35:55

it. When it comes up like that, that's so great. Hi,

36:06

I'm John Lovett, host of Love It or Leave

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37:17

for the love of home. Tell

37:28

me about Ordinary Angels. Okay, first of all,

37:30

Ordinary Angels, I remember that storm. This

37:33

one was gnarly. Oh my gosh,

37:35

really? Yeah, it was gnarly. And by

37:37

the way, down Louisville to have a

37:39

storm like that in the

37:41

South is so rare. I

37:44

love this movie for so many reasons. Let's

37:48

start with the fact that we need

37:50

a movie like this right now. It's

37:52

really in some tough

37:54

times in the world. And I think people

37:57

are looking for a feel-good movie. So there's

37:59

that. which I'm happy, really

38:02

happy to be able to bring that and to

38:04

entertain people with a true

38:06

story of goodness. Two,

38:10

this woman that I played is

38:12

bigger than life, and she lights

38:14

up a room. She's

38:16

transparent. She wears her heart on her

38:18

sleeve. She loves people. She

38:20

is just a

38:23

beautiful reminder of the good in people. Three,

38:26

community, how community can

38:29

come together and help one another. We've

38:32

gotten so far away from that, and it

38:34

doesn't even have to be in a small

38:36

town. I was in New York City

38:38

during 9-11, and that is

38:41

a huge populated city, and the community

38:43

came together in a real way. We

38:47

can come together, whether it's something big or

38:49

something small, and in

38:51

this case, it was a big deal to

38:53

save a young girl's life, and they rallied.

38:56

And then lastly,

38:59

well, there's a lot of things, but

39:01

lastly, my dad

39:03

was a recipient of a lung transplant,

39:06

and his life was

39:08

saved by the graciousness of a donor.

39:11

And so it reminds us that there's

39:13

millions of people out there waiting for

39:15

an organ donor, and if you can,

39:17

please become a donor.

39:20

It saves lives, and I

39:22

felt, you know, my dad was Christian, and

39:25

there's a lot of faith-based kind

39:28

of themes in this movie. And

39:33

so I just feel like this is a movie my dad would have

39:35

been really proud of that I'm a part of. Oh,

39:37

I loved your dad. Thank you.

39:40

Yeah, we had a lot of great times. I went through a bunch of

39:42

pictures. At Thanksgiving, we spent at

39:44

your house with my dad. And my dad

39:46

loved you guys. And your mom, of course. Yeah,

39:49

my mom. The greatest.

39:51

She's still a funny firecracker. I was

39:53

gonna say, funny firecracker. Oh, okay,

39:56

so speaking of rescuing, and you mentioned

39:58

9-11, if you... Have you

40:00

ever told people about the gnarly animal

40:02

rescues you did? No. How about

40:05

that? No one's ever, because people didn't

40:07

know me. They didn't know. So yeah,

40:09

you knew me. Tell me, tell everybody

40:11

what you did post 9-11. It's incredible.

40:14

Thank you. First of all, to people who

40:16

don't know, there is no bigger advocate for

40:18

animals than Hillary. Like, none.

40:21

And by the way, the bird sanctuary misses you

40:23

in Carpinteria. Oh, love them. You need to come.

40:25

They're still there. I'm so happy

40:27

they're still there. With all the

40:29

changes in my neighborhood, they're still

40:31

there. Oh, that's wonderful. Jamie is,

40:33

like, she is an ordinary angel. What she's

40:36

doing for all those birds, because as we

40:38

talked about birds with 80 to 90 years,

40:41

I got mine when I was a teenager. No one

40:43

keeps a bird that long. They're like,

40:45

I got to move on. And then these poor, beautiful,

40:48

smart creatures are left

40:51

kind of going from home to home. And they're

40:54

very particular, as you know. So Jamie is just

40:56

a blessing. So thank you for bringing her up.

40:59

But yeah, so I

41:01

heard about all of these animals that

41:03

were left down. You couldn't go below

41:06

14th Street if that's

41:08

where you lived. You couldn't go back down

41:10

there. All the first responders were down there

41:12

and they were cleaning up and it was

41:14

just too much of a mess and it

41:16

was burning. And

41:19

a lot of the apartment buildings were,

41:21

like, about to collapse. And they didn't know

41:23

if they were able to withstand

41:26

the weight. And

41:28

I worked with the ASPCA and the

41:30

Park and Recreation, which I was, I

41:33

worked with just separately

41:36

before 9-11. And

41:38

they needed a bunch of volunteers. So we went down

41:41

and we went into all of these apartments where people

41:43

would, like, people went, let me just go back a

41:45

step. People would go over the piers

41:47

over on West Street and they would

41:49

say, you know, my dog Simpson or

41:51

my goldfish or my rabbit or whatever

41:53

it is. And they'd say, this is

41:55

my address. This is my apartment. And

41:58

I would get these cards and we'd go down. Remind

42:02

you, there was no electricity down there.

42:04

So if their animal was on the

42:06

50th floor, you were walking up to

42:08

the 50th floor. And

42:11

we'd get up there and we brought

42:13

cats down, we brought turtles down, we

42:15

brought fish down, we brought lots

42:18

of dogs, I

42:20

think a couple hamsters. But

42:23

I mean, these apartment buildings, they were

42:25

missing windows. And the trauma that

42:27

these animals went through, living there for some a few

42:29

days and some a few

42:31

weeks. Cats

42:34

that were scared out of their gourd, you'd have to

42:36

put them in like a pillowcase. That's

42:38

the story I remember is you told me

42:40

this story about walking into an apartment or

42:42

breaking into the apartment. And

42:44

you're there to rescue the animal, that

42:47

animal is terrified. If you're trying to grab

42:49

a cat, it's terrified? Yeah,

42:52

it was going crazy. It

42:54

was missing its person. Who

42:57

knows how long it didn't have food,

42:59

the front windows were blown out, it

43:01

was smoky, it was dirty, it was

43:04

dangerous. And they were just like, what is

43:06

going on? And there

43:08

was, yeah, I mean, a cat in

43:11

that environment is wild. So

43:14

we were like, how do we do this? How do we do

43:16

this? And it kept getting out of a blanket. So finally figured

43:18

out how to put it in a pillowcase, knew it could still

43:20

breathe through it, got them back

43:22

to their owners. But reuniting these animals with

43:25

their owners was such a gift. They were

43:27

just like, so

43:29

happy. Well, you

43:31

were an ordinary angel, a

43:33

literal ordinary angel. Even

43:36

then... We didn't have iPhones at the time.

43:38

So I wasn't able to like take any photos from

43:40

down there either. It was

43:42

crazy, a lot of crazy times. We need to do

43:44

a part two, because then we had to tell people

43:46

about your visit to Russia during the, when they were

43:49

shelling the... Remember that? Yeah,

43:53

they were a cannonball went into the

43:55

parliament building. That was... In

43:57

Russia. That was literally... That was 94, I think.

44:00

think, or 93? Insane. I

44:02

mean, there's a lot, there's so much to

44:05

go over. But listen, you need to, I want

44:07

to meet, I don't think I've met your husband and

44:09

I've got to meet those lovely little

44:11

ones and come out and see the bird

44:13

sanctuary. We'll take him to the zoo when

44:16

they're old enough. Attached tanks. There's

44:18

so much to do in Santa Barbara. We miss you.

44:20

I love that you're still up there. You love it

44:22

up there? Love it. Never, never, ever, ever

44:24

leaving. Love it. Love it. Yeah, it's

44:26

a pretty great place. And you guys went up

44:28

there before the whole rush went. Yeah, we've

44:30

spent 30 years. For

44:33

sure. Well, we all love you. Chad sends

44:35

his love. Cheryl sends his love. The boys,

44:37

we all miss you. Excited

44:40

to watch you continue to crush it.

44:51

That was amazing. Amazing

44:54

to get reunited with

44:57

Hillary and Seuss the bird.

44:59

I don't know if you guys could hear Seuss the bird

45:01

in the background, but I could

45:03

hear her as we were recording. So funny.

45:07

All right. Just one more thing before we end today's episode. Let's

45:10

check the lowdown line. Hello,

45:15

you've reached literally in

45:18

our lowdown line where you

45:20

can get the lowdown on all things

45:22

about me. Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So

45:30

have at it. Here's the beep. Hey,

45:34

Bob. This is Jenny from North

45:36

Carolina. Love your books, love your

45:38

podcasts, and I'm a Navy scout.

45:40

Of course, I had your poster

45:42

on my wall when I was in

45:45

high school. Now, this

45:47

is what I've learned about you. All

45:49

right. So you are a great

45:51

impersonator, a great interviewer, a great

45:54

actor. Good looking,

45:56

good at being

45:59

golfing. surfing, you're

46:01

still married, your wife,

46:03

you have kids

46:06

that are smart

46:09

and successful. So my question

46:11

is, what are you bad

46:14

at? What do you think at?

46:16

What do you do that gets on your

46:18

wife's nerves? Come on, America needs to know.

46:21

All right, thanks, Rob. Have a great day. Make

46:23

it fun. That

46:27

is you are amazing. That's a

46:29

very nice list that you ticked

46:32

off. Thank you so much. Boy,

46:35

oh boy. And we need it

46:37

sounds like really what we need is Cheryl

46:39

Lowe back on this podcast. Because

46:42

she has a list. Believe me. She's

46:44

a wife. That's a wife's do. They

46:47

have lists of things that

46:49

husbands need to

46:51

do better. Okay,

46:53

ready? In no particular order. I

46:56

am not handy around the house. I'm

46:59

not. I'm not. I

47:02

could barely screw in a light bulb. I

47:06

can change the light bulb. But anything else,

47:08

man, you're on your

47:10

own. And

47:13

what else? I

47:15

am terrible with

47:17

household finances. That's

47:19

her purview. And she's great at

47:21

it. I'm good at making the

47:23

money. But figuring

47:25

out the rest of it, that's all her. What

47:29

else am I not good at? Anything

47:33

having to do with math? Anything.

47:38

I just had run DMC on my

47:40

show. And he said that you know

47:43

you're following your higher calling when

47:45

you're doing what comes easy to

47:47

you. So I don't

47:49

have any guilt about the

47:51

things I'm no good at anymore. Thank

47:54

you. That was a great question. So amazing. And

47:57

great stories. That was amazing. Thank you all for

48:00

tuning in. Don't forget to see Hillary's movie.

48:02

It's out right now. Ordinary

48:04

Angels, feel good movie. We could

48:06

all use it. And I'll see you next week right

48:08

back here on Literally. You've

48:12

been listening to Literally with Rob

48:14

Lowe produced by me, Sean Doherty,

48:16

with help from associate producers, Sarah

48:18

Baguar and research by Alyssa Grau.

48:21

Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel.

48:23

Our executive producers are Rob Lowe

48:25

for low profile, Nick Liao, Adam

48:28

Saxon, Jeff Ross for Team Coco

48:30

and Colin Anderson for Stitcher. Hooking

48:32

by Deirdre Dodd, music by Devin

48:34

Bryant. Special thanks to Hidden

48:37

City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see

48:39

you next time on Literally.

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