Straw media. Hey folks, thanks
for joining us for another episode of American
Badass. Here is part two of
the interview with Tom Arnold. Hi Everybody,
and welcome back to American Badass.
Today's guest is actor and comedian Tom
Arnold, and Tom and I did
a movie together called Christmas thieves. It's
going to come out late fall most
probably. I play an Elf, yeah,
you can imagine, and he hurt
me correctly, and Tom Play Santa
Claus and we're a pair of thieves. I won't tell you anymore, but
I'm actually really excited to watch myself. So fingers crossed it'll turn out to
be what we wanted to be.
anyways, Tom and I had a pretty
good time in Italy. We had
each other's back, which is important if
you're filming in a foreign country.
anyways, toimes a great actor and he's
been in a whole bunch of different
movies and TV shows, so he knows
that as an actor, doesn't really
matter how close you are with a director
and what you want for your character, because in the end they'll want you
to do what they think works best
for the story, and it's really rare
that you get to really have any
kind of saying it at all. You
know, I was on a cheat
show called sons of Anarchyde for a couple
season's I did ED. I love
do it as show and I loved all
the people at it and where I
felt like, well, we're very close.
And what day? Kurt Sutter,
who created the show, kabed to
my trader goes you're dying today.
They reminded me here that ago. No,
WHOA, no, he goes.
I go, okay, but but
kill me in a way that I
could come back. And he said we're
shooting you forty times. We're gonna
put you in the truck of a car
and then shoot you forty times.
And at Pete you just knew if you're
working on that show you're going to
get killed. It's like the Sopranos.
You eventually somebody's gonna kill you,
but that feeling of thank you, the
guy dressing right on star Trek.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh,
yeah, all the guys dressed read. I gonna get it sooner later.
Yeah, the thing I just did, I hadn't read the ending because I
just did like a cup thing in
in Texas and I hadn't read the ending
because they hadn't sent it to me
and I'm having a script meeting with the
director and the day before we're going
to start and and I said, well,
you know what happens at the end
of this thing? You know,
because I have a feeling you're going
to do me in. And I said,
I I don't want to do that, please, you know. I
I'm tired of all my kids want
to ask me before I leave is dad.
You know, are you going to
get killed again? And said I
said please, not this time,
and the guy goes no, actually,
you're doing the tag at the end
of the film and you see this thing
come out of the sky and this
creature that's been killing everyone, but you're
actually very kind of serious about it
and and you walk away and let a
cigarette and I go, Whoa,
Whoa, that's that's good. Like that.
Yeah, that's why I survived to
the sequel. Yeah, if that
is one. You know, I
had a I know we've both had robotic
movie stuff. Yeah, I did
this movie called Happy Eddies. It's very
good. At Maggie, Jill at
hall, was my girlfriend, did it.
She was she and she was sort
of plague me. Her character is
sort of played by character I was
a rich older guy. The Jason Ritter
was my son who was her buddy. And you know, I let her
bad practice at my hot I let
her do anything and I would have in
real life let her do anything too. And and we got such a great
thing because her character turned to a
corner. You can see Odo she does
like this guy. And I said
to Dodd Ruse, who the great writer
director, I said listen, we
and we both said it may you know,
we don't want to break up in
this movie. And he's like,
tell me what that feels like.
I said, well, feels like it.
We shouldn't. It's awful and you
know, and he goes remember that
tomorrow when I shoot the breakup.
Seed get that feeling out there on Cabra
about how you don't really want it. And that's what I'm looking for,
because we're doing it. And happened
for rea? Yeah, they change his
JEOGRA. I'm supposed to be following
this joger in my squad car and you
know, they originally wrote me as
kind of creepy sheriff WHO's letchy. He's
watching this girl jog down the street
and he pulls her over. You know,
for some ridiculous questions and just because
I wanted to meet her. And
then, but previous to that,
I had did a scene with the guy
who supposed to be the mayor of
the town and he's with this very attractive
woman and in the middle of the
conversation I look at her and she's looking
at me and and out of nowhere
I go, well, you know,
you made up your mind to jump
ship, they know, back in the
day, and she goes, well, you know, let's not talk about
that. And she was right there. Came back. Oh that's great.
Well, line from nowhere, and
I don't even know why I said it,
but the next day they decided that
she was going to be the jogger
that I pull up behind in the
squad cart. Oh that's cool. To
all of a sudden she became my
girlfriend that I knew before she was with
the mayor. No, that's a
better story. It was, but that's
what's helpful about getting involved with projects
that we do. Like yeah, you're
always like, well, I've got
to commit here for a little while.
I don't really want to care.
I've been let them do that thing.
I'm going to do my best job. But then all sudden when you take
a look at the story, you
go, Oh, I care about my
character, I care about this.
I don't want him to be the creepy
guy. Right, it's there away
and there's not always the solution. Sometimes
you just got to do it.
But that's a great and that's all.
That also says a lot about the
man that you were acting with. To
that she was wonderful and yeah,
joint Lee, she was wonderful. She
really brought it and when I'm talking
to her on the side of the road,
it just it was so natural and
it completely changed me from the lecherous
sheriff to a guy who's really not
kind of got, not not a bad
guy, right, he was just
that getting ready to retire and the small
town and trying to solve a murder
and all of a sudden he has his
humanistic side where he really misses his
old girlfriend and, you know, didn't
trying to scare her with the squad
car so he could have a little chat
with her. Really Nice. Yeah, they the whole thing work for me
and I got a different level.
You know. Yeah, I know that's
probably happened. You tell me a
bunch of well, you know, I
played a small tab sheriff this couple
weeks, couple three weeks ago, down
it. Let's talk about this Bob
Babe Beach, California, down by the
Salt Sea. It was a fucking
hundred and twenty three degrees. Oh yeah,
add the makeup and they'd read it. They people's trailers. So there
really was an air condition inside either. Had By my car. That drove
me down to my hotel, which
is it's up a pulp spraying somewhere.
The air condition broke on that.
And when sometimes you are just so uncomfortable,
you know you can't, it's like
fucket, you don't. What gives
you so because they're suffering to yeah, yeah, who has yet one complain?
I can't walk out of here.
It's too far to walk. Yeah,
what's it like in in? Was
it going to ask you? I
saw you want to show the other
day. Funny you should ask. Were
you like a regular on that thing
with the comedian? No, no,
it looks I think I did.
Then I get a trophy. I think
I wanted to the trophy. I
did. I they wanted me to come
back by. Said No, no, I won this episode. I dined.
Ye did did you were frony.
Hell, yeah, Hey, let
me show you this. Do they
tell you, guys, the answer on
that show? Like I tell you
know what's funny you're supposed to say.
You really make it know. You
really had to be on point. Is
that it is? Look at this. I know this is I got this
this weekend. It says New Jersey
Whore Cohn and Film Festival Legacy Award Tob
Arnold, and I think they gave
about thirty of these out. But it's
one of those things I've been doing
where I saw bruce stirred the week before
at the Hollywood Autograph Show, which
I love Bruce. I love that whole
family, but I love brewster.
So little funny because I went over to
talk to you for a while at
and that to hear he did your first
podcast. He did. That makes
a lot of said. So he was
nobody better. He was wondering though
he was really I knew he was going
to be good, but he was
better than that. He was he told
so many things. I thought I
knew everything about him because we shot the
hatefully together and I had heard all
of his stories many times and I thought,
okay, there's nothing he's gonna talk
about that I haven't already heard,
but my God, for two hours
he told things that I had never heard
before. It was it was great. That's amazing, so nice. It
was so wawfully, such a such
a character. Yeah, how's your Bob
Doing? Oh, well, you
know, she's moved into a assistant living
place with her husband and yeah,
they're very happy and it's a nice place.
It looks like the four seasons and
yeah, you know, I think
she's very happy actually. And Yeah, she's about the cats. The cats.
Are the cats still there? I
do, you know, that's the
one question I haven't got to the
answer yet. Yeah, I'm not sure
what they've done with those critters.
But yeah, they had quite a life
there for a while and their little
hutches and I don't know what they did,
but them very funny they had.
They had tunnels. Yeah, tunnel
they could go through to get on
the deck. But then what they're out
there, nothing to do. We
go back through the tunnel back in the
house. And Yeah, that was
her husband's very creative guy. Yeah,
thanks for asking about her. She's
yeah, she put up with me and
yeah, she's in the documentary.
Guys, you probably saw her. Yeah,
yeah, and she's a it's a
she has a great story because,
you know, she was one of
these midwestern wives whose husbend was, you
know, your dad was a fire, but you know, that's a certain
you know, you think, well, that that's always there, log suffering,
Bob Lood, suffer free wife,
and then she, you know,
after he goes, she eventually meets
this other guy and it's all her.
She's like Peppi and, you know, romantic and as you were explaining it
to me, it was just very
wonderful. Yeah, because people people think,
well, you get one life,
you do one thing, that to
your and that she's really the hero
your family, because she's like no,
and then I'm going to do this, and then she's you know, she
was having a lot more sex that
I am. I'll tell you that right
now, because she is in love. She had, you know, and
you were like yeah, they're great, they get you know. It's amazing.
Yeah, there's yeah, that's I
hope I have that energy when I
get up there. I see I
know you. You're definitely the hero of
your family. Tell and I can
tell. Yeah, Mister, we've both
told me about your kids. In
the kind of day. Yeah, that's
it makes me just love you even
more, buddy. Yeah, I feel
the same. I feel the same. You know you you talk a lot.
We talked a lot about our life
growing up and how we could do
better for our kids. You know. You know, my sister was the
queen of Math. You know there's
that documentary here, little Bour. Well,
she she's a year younger. I
mean your sister is a very beautiful
actress, but bide was the queen
of Bath that she was the biggest meth
that fetemy dealer in America. And
I will say this here. Look when
you're yeah, wait, you're by
the way, your sister look so good
at the documentary too. Yeah,
it's like you was, you know,
but she, you know, with
your little sisters, the queen a Beth,
a huge drug dealer, because they
don't just have bath. When you're
young, you're like yeah, this
is this is all right. You know,
sure, add but you know,
she was a biker and you know,
ended up going to prison a couple
times. are very proud of how
she you know, turn things around, but it goes back into our childhood,
much like your documentary goes into your
said, yeah, I'm very similar,
kind of have to. Yeah,
but I think people like that and
I hope everybody sees your documentary.
We watched it a couple times over here.
You know what's for the movie part, but then what's for the human
part, and you know there's a
couple shocking things that happen during that.
You know. Yeah, your house, Your House. I did that just
being whitewash and ego trip. You
know, I want right. I told
them from the very beginning. I
said, guys, you know, I
don't need to tell a big fake
story and you know, turn this into
a heckle and Jack will cartoon.
And you know, if it were going
to make it, we have to
say the good, the bad and the
ugly and and I'm so happy that
it kind of came out that way.
You know, it really covered it
all and if I get hit by lightning
tomorrow, I'm happy it got made. Yeah, no, it's very good.
It's very good. I want people
to see it. For those of
you who don't know, there's a
documentary coming out soon called American Badass.
It's a Michael Match and retrospective.
It's kind of a touring festival at the
moment and I'm having a look back
in my life and career. It took
quite a long time to make,
almost three years, and I wanted it
to be real, to show the
truth about who I am and how we
started out, the good, the
bad and the ugly. But let's talk
more about that after the break.
Welcome back everyone. Today I'm speaking with
my friend, actor and comedian Tom
Arnold, who was so kind to watch
my documentary, American Badass a Michael
Mats in retrospective. Is a whole bunch
of people in it who I am
so grateful for contributing. Quinton of course,
but also John Travolta, Daryl Hannah, Charlie Sheen, also my mom
and my sister. So I feel
really blessed to have it come out and
finally, so tom seen it already. Here's what he had to say.
In your documentary, I have to
say, the greatest I don't know if
it's seven minutes, eight minutes ever
in a documentary, is quintin going through
the beach of the hat. Yeah, you are at it. It's so
funny. Funny can and you see
your acting live because you don't know what
he's going to happen, and something
happens and you are very attached to that
had. Yeah, and your face
is so brilliant, but only somebody that
loves you as much as quite Tarantino
ad respect you as much, could do
that. Otherwise it would come off. As you know, this guy's fucking
with me so much. I didn't
want to take it off and he made
yeah, put it in the script
and yeah, then I had no choice.
Yeah. Well, he talked about
the table read and you show up
with that hat and he's like,
what the fuck is that hat? Yeah,
you're not. Well, yeah,
yeah, yeah, it's so he
sent the whole movie trying to get
the hat off your fucking head, which
to me, you know, that's
what doing. I love about great documentaries.
There's a lot of great film stuff
in there. Are you talk a
lot about your inspirations. You you
know you're a huge fan of these great
actors. And then, but then
to see something played out it basically real
time. You know, because we
all know quit Tarantito do. You've done
all these things together. But to
see how what was going on behind the
scenes and and you know it his
headed. Just see you react to it
on film. You know, that's
that's the best. You don't see that
at other documentaries. I really like
that. I thought he was really gracious
for his time and really, you
know, he was very he didn't want
to do it. Like the first
couple times I said, I'm doing this
documentary and you know, maybe you
could, you know, say something and
think no, like Oh, no, you know, I don't do they
ca yeah, I don't want to
be in the doctor. So I stopped
asking as yeah, yeah, after
I said he's never going to do anything.
Yeah, and all of a sudden, you know, like toward the
end, like out of the blue, he calls up. Yeah, are
you guys still make that documentary go? Well, yeah, he goes all
love to it. Yeah, I
tell the story about this. I want
to tell the story about your fucking
hand. And I go, Oh my
God, yes, of course,
you know. so He's a soon.
Can Your crew get over here?
And they go, well, I guess
him get them there pretty quick and
and they showed up the next day and
boil boy, he did such a
nice, nice contribution to it. Right.
Well, he's also a story a
storyteller. So in my mind he
was thinking, well, what would
I add to this? What would I
add except cop the mad Michael or
describing see the see different seeds, House
seats wet. But then he thought
this hat story is fucking gold, like
it'll be gold. People will be
talking about that forever. Like you just
don't see a great director writer break
down, you know, you hear talk
about well, this seed happened,
but it just it was like and it
was a log story, but it
paid off so well. On your face
when you are so sad when you
had to take your hat, but that
really don't want to do it.
I'm not, yeah, an actor,
I didn't want to. Yeah,
no, Michell US great and my trailer.
In the middle of the day he
knocks on the door. We're out
in Barstow and he goes hey,
yeah, I just wrote this and this
is what we're going to shoot today. And ended to be in close to
the door and I think, what
the Hell is this? Right, I
sit down and like camper and I
start realizing, Oh my God, I
have to take off my head Shit, and I have to do it now.
He figured out how to get to
me the personal way. Larry,
Larry Bishop had a great time.
Oh yeah, he'sac I can't wait to
tell Manson to take that thing off
his head. He really wait for it.
I was just great, favorite moment
of the film. Yeah, Tommy
got it. So nice to see
my face and you got to see you.
Buddy. I love you. Tell
me the second this my second shot
Gott and it just to have you
is just wonderful. I knew you'd be
great at this. I said to
you you got to do a fucking podcast.
You've got to do it, because
you are a podcast. You're a
walking podcast and if you're going to
do everybody else's podcasts, you should have
your podcasts. Yeah, we're real
on it, damn it. Yeah,
yet he all come back at each
time. I love you. Say Hi
the family. I will keep you
posted on our movie and I will see
you a person sued. I'll come
out to wherever you are, I hope
so. Tell me. God bless
you, man. God bless you to
man, but you, Tom thanks
for listening, everybody. This was episode
two of American Badass, the Tom
Arnold I love Tom like a brother to
me. We really had so much
fun in Italy and now you know that
filmmaking really isn't all that glamorous.
You're either too hot too cold, and
if things go really bad, you
might end up in a Santa suit fully
shit all right. So don't forget
to watch out for our upcoming movie,
Christmas thieves. It should be out
this fall, hopefully. And again,
thanks for tuning in. It really
means the world to me if you enjoy
listening to me talking with great actors
and artists, the people that I love
and admire. If you haven't already, please subscribe to follow and have a
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