KJ Apa Gets Real About His Struggles with Addiction

- Cole and I would walk into places in Vancouver all the time and get called, you know. - Anything above the sun. - Yeah, I remember we almost got into a fight. Cole likes to get a fist cut. - Oh, yeah, I've been around. He punched me in the face. - I remember you ran like an ostrich dude. - What happened there? - I was there. He punched you then you ran away. - He punched me in the face. - And I ran away. - Obviously they asked us to bring in a lot of stuff for the background here. The one thing that I will point out was major thing is your point break poster. - You're original. - But the delusion of you thinking that that's just like us is insane. - It's really rude, first of all, it's just like us. - It's totally not just like us. - I have like the stoicism and like smart to Bowdie and you have like the young dumb full of calm like Johnny Utah. (laughing) - That's what he says in the movie. - It is true. - I know, it is true. Young dumb and full of calm, sir. Do I look good? If anyone, it's like I'm like Bowdie and you're like get abusive. - I just love to fucking. - The delusion that you have inside your head - I think either one of those, you couldn't be either. - Maybe this is a good time for you to talk about the tough room. - The tough room? - Maybe this is a good time. Can you explain the tough room? - The tough room is funnier when you bring it up because in Australia, it would just be a room. My sisters would have-- - How old were you? - Like, 10 I think? - Through 18. (laughing) You did this for eight years. - Oh, there's a room in my house in the basement. If you turn off all the lights, it was pitch black, you know. So, and then all the guys would come down there and you would see who's the toughest. And so you sneak around and make people say they're not tough. And whoever who's of the last one is the tough guy, the winner of the tough room. So if you turn off the lights in here, I could see you're out without a sound. I learned over the years. - Okay. - Really was never won the tough room. - No, of course he didn't win the tough room. He's also a very gangly guy. We'd go home and say, yeah, let's head to the tough room and then we could play HALO. (laughing) Get the tough room out of the picture. - So, you're saying KJ would win the tough room or the tough-- - KJ would beast the tough room. - I don't think so. - KJ would beast the tough room. - It's a lot about noise, often. - Was there like an accidental tickle in the tough room? - Ons. - Not ons. - Had to be someone-- I mean, the thing is about the tough room is that, and I think it takes away from the tough room, is that there had to be a lot of laughs in it. - That's a big point. - You can't laugh. If you hear someone else getting out tough, you can't laugh. - Yeah, well, we're the ground rules. - Yeah, try it. - There's no rules to the tough room. - So, you wouldn't have survived a minute in the tough room. - No, I actually think I would do too much in the tough room, dude. - You can call it if any games like that? - We actually just really wrestled each other. - It was not like we didn't play that. - 'Cause you're a big sports guy. - Also, you grew up looking at only sisters. And I had an actual brother who was the same weight class, same height, and we would just-- - This is your kind of trade-off weight class. Sorry, guys. There's some crossover, certainly, through different ages. - Violet was always taller than me. And in my mind, she was always taller than me. I was like five foot going into high school. But I always had a theory. I was like, I think maybe they switched us when we were born. Like, Violet was two years younger than me. But I was like, if there's a possibility, they kind of fucked up. I was like, there's no reason she's five-six, and I'm five foot. - I'm like, she must be actually older than me. - So you were six inches shorter than Violet at some point? - Yes, she was huge. - I'm in a clay nation for school. And Violet in it is just legs. And it was me, and she just stepped on me. That's how much taller that she was. She must not have grown sense. 'Cause she's not like a tall lady. - The way you need a therapist, I just need to talk to someone. - We bring one in on that episode. - That would be hilarious. Lay you down. Talk to you, dude. That explains a lot about your guys' dynamic. Because I always thought you just older brother, DeHela. - No, no. Violet was like tougher, yeah. She was bigger than me. All the girls just made fun of me relentlessly. And Bella was like eight years younger than me. And she would just, she bullied Willie the most. So relentlessly bullied, you guys look like dorks. She never talked to girls. You're all you do is play halo. And I was like, yeah, you're right. - Sounds cool, you know what I'm saying? - Sounds like you guys, you're right on track. - Chill. - That's something you guys mean, teen. - Right on track. The Cole was always, Cole definitely had fun enough the reverse of like what we were playing on the show. But he was always way cooler than me in reality. - Still is. - Girls wanted to talk, I think he's still cooler than me, he's definitely a bad boy. But he, he, girls would always want to talk to him. Like I knew I was fucked at like 16 with girls who I thought I could maybe have a thing with where like why don't we just talk about our dreams. - Oh, no, no. I'm cut. - You were, you were, you were. It's Charmere. - Yeah, I was Charmere. I was in the sound of music and they, they filmed it and you know I was delegated, I used to be the star of the plays, maybe gained a little too much weight. And so I got the small part of the sound of music. So there's just a picture of me as a very chubby Nazi. - I don't think they probably do that. - It's actually interest me up on my phone. - I knew the day, like so I was 16, obviously we were going through a growth spurt too, right? - Yeah. - It sounds like you were a short guy. - Kids gained weight around that time. - The time, and I'm going to tell you the bowling story, which was the day that I knew after this I was like, I have to lose weight, I have to hit the gym. We had a DC, like a Disney Channel promo. It was a New Year's Eve and one, like they divided us up into teams, which they love to do. And it was a bowling segment where like before the countdown they're going to entertain. We all do games and stuff. It was a bowling segment. I was on the green team. And we all had to bowl. We each got one, we each got one pull, one bowl on a real alley. We'll listen. So they built an entire alley on this set, right? Not an entire alley, one lane of an alley. And it was grazed off the ground and had a little divider next to it, like a kind of an artistic way. - Okay, cool. - A divider. But the elevation was about five feet, four, five feet. And then they stacked up about 116 year old extras. - I love open the divider. - No bumpers? - No bumpers. Okay, I leveled to like an ocean nightmare. - Yeah. - All right. And theatrically, I was the last up to go. And they were chanting my name. I needed a strike. And I'm not a bad bowl or I'm not like a scratch bowl or by any means, but I'm not bad. - Scratch bowl. - I don't even think that's a thing. But I'm 15 at the time and I'm the heaviest I was. I was like 170 pounds of raw muscle. - Like 15 years. - Like five three. - Yeah, that's just an absolute beast. Ada Chaco Taco for every meal. - Just continued. - And I was a heavy lad. And they're chanting my name. They're going, "Dylan, Dylan, Dylan." And I walked up and to my horror, the only balls they had were six pound balls with extra small holes. - No, dude. - So I jammed my sausage links inside of the holes. And I picked up this thing and I'm going, it's not good. And obviously, as I go back, I go to release the ball. - You get a reaction. - Interaction of releasing where it should. It sticks to my fingers and goes like, "Pops off here." - Oh no. - I leveled to all of these kids. And the next thing I hear went from "Dylan, Dylan," to clacked one, crushed a girl in the head with a six pound bowling ball that was like a cannon. - You could have killed someone. - Okay, so immediately my thought was, "I killed someone." - They killed this bumpers, they should have, this is a big deal. - It's definitely on them still. At the end of the day, it's definitely on them. I feel terrible, but it was definitely on them. And I was like, "Okay, I killed a girl. My life's going to change. I'm 16 years old." I crushed a girl in the head with a bowling ball. And I'll never forget they like, I'm sitting in the dressing room, just dressing, sweating bullets. Again, I'm like, "I need another chocolate chocolate now." - Just a chocolate chocolate step. - And the art, the director comes in, who is the best, but he was just obviously like an anxious nightmare. And he walks in and he goes, "Hey, so she's okay." But she's going to, we were thinking that maybe all the DC stars could get together and like sign a red thing and take a picture. - You're driving this forward. - And I remember looking at him and going, "She's okay with just that." Like no lawsuit, no, nothing. And he goes, "Yeah." And I looked at him and I went, "You're getting off pre-Scott free with this one." He goes, "Well, you are too, Dylan." - I know. Well, my thing is, I still wouldn't be liable, like I looked it up afterwards. It's still me on them, right? And like, I like, I crushed the girl in the head with a bowling ball, but that's not under my, like, you should prepare for it. - Every other dizzy kid hit pins? - Just right down the middle. - Just snapped it. And after that day, I was like, "I should probably eat a salad maybe once." - I don't think that's the fall that whoever built the sets out of their mind. That's very dangerous. - It's a complete, like, ocean nightmare, too. So I, so I didn't bowl for years. - Good, good. - And I'm just not an athlete. Unlike the person who is coming on next for us, who is an absolute athlete, KJ. - Song. - I mean, he's actually just a freak. Like I, I saw him run on like a kinetic treadmill. That's what it's called. - Kinetic treadmill? - Run full sprint for like five minutes straight once. And he walks up. - What's the kinetic treadmill? It's, uh. - It's the motion that you put into it. So like, the faster you run, the faster you get. - The rams wheel? - Kind of. - Okay. - But they're really hard. They're just, like, super difficult. - Really? - Yeah, he's a beast. He also played rugby so you should take that off. - I will. - Yeah, you're a lady. - Yeah, he's gonna. And he actually famously played the only good-looking redhead in the show. - All right, all right. Well, here's our guest, KJ. [laughter] (upbeat music) - K H, welcome. Hi. (laughing) - Thank you so much for having me. - That's all I got for you today. - This feels way too casual. - It's a fully casual. - There's like, that's a little dance before. - What do you want? Do you want like cue cards? - I don't know, I don't know this topic. It's creeping 'em out. - I did an audition the other day, and I know that you've probably experienced this too. It's in-person, my first in-person one for a while. And the scene was. (laughing) The scene was I had to be in, I had to find out that I'm in love with this girl, right? And I'm given the read, and I actually think I'm doing pretty well, which has been a mistake of mine historically. And I'm reading it, and her main note was, she's giving me nothing, right? The casting agent assistant is giving me nothing. - You're in the room. - In the room. And then after the scene goes, she goes, "I really need to believe that you're in love with me." - I've had that many, many, many, many tons. (laughing) - And I go, I don't think, like there needs to be chemistry. Like I can't, like I can only really convince you I'm in love with you, first off, if you're willing to love yourself. - Yeah. - Which, I don't think that she was there yet, but no, I get that note all the time. - Well, yeah. - And then in your mind, you really feel that you are portraying love. - Yeah. - And I've done this with self-times. This is why I really don't like self-times, 'cause you don't really have anyone to tell you that note. - Yeah. - And you look back and you look, it looks like you have disdain for this point. - Sometimes I'm thinking something, and it's really not translating at all. - And you're just watching yourself at home then. - But also here's the extra added thing, and I know this might sound like an attack, it's not, but casting agents are also not generally actress or actresses. So a lot of the things that you do as a trained actor and actress, they're probably gonna miss. - I don't trained. - Well, we know, but the way you trained them, no, not at all, dude. I'm just all natural. But then, so on top of that, their definition, everyone's definition of love is different. So then they're like, love me. - They came from a happy home, or like, yeah, exactly. - Well, it's your definition of love. - Probably like a P and upside-the-head. - No, it was P and upside-the-head. - Well that's a bad thing. - P-serious, definition of love. I think definition of love is like, well, I know my love language is definitely physical touch. That's something that-- - That's so loud. - My love language is definitely physical touch. And I'm like, what do they say, acts of service, or like I'm an action guy? - You like the acts of service, or you do the actions? - I probably do them, so like, I'll be like, okay, if you had a hard day, I'll cook till it, right? Like, things like that, that seems like to me. - Yeah. - What about yours? What about yours? - I like, I like to, I don't know what love is. - I like hanging out, which is tough for me. - They're the love language, just like chilling out. - Well, it's quality time, I think they call it. But, a mellow quality time, or like, going to a place, like a date. - I like mellow, I like mellow. The thing about me is yet, something about me is that, is that, I find it difficult to keep things going. - Yeah. - I just feel that I can burn through things really quickly. And then, so, I usually know after about three months of spending time with someone. - You're like, I hate them now. - You're done with it? - It's so time to add them, so I know. - I know, and it's a problem for me, yeah. - No, I remember, well, until I met Barbara, yeah, I felt like that a lot, like where I was like, oh, I just, maybe I feel like I gave a lot of myself, and I was really, really invested. And then, after like two or three months, you go like, maybe they don't feel the same. And now, I'm starting to feel like I overshared a lot, and I don't have the same things in common. - I told you so much back then. - So, when was the point where you realized, oh, this is a good, this is, I'm gonna marry this person. 'Cause, that I kind of relate to. - Yeah. - I don't even, I can't relate to that at all. - You knew early, 'cause you gave me a call. - You gave me an early with Barbara. Barbara, when, I mean, she roasted me from the second I met her, and I was like, all right, well, first off, I will say a lot of what makes you feel like I can really be here for me, and maybe this is a love language thing, but was the fact that she has a sense of humor, that she's actually funny. So, I was like, okay, well, I know if I say something or we talk, we're gonna have like banter, and it's gonna always be that way, and it has been. - Well, you were nervous, though. You had a, one night, he brought babs to meet all of us. - How long have you guys known each other for? - 15 years. - 15, yeah. - You look like something. - Yeah? - Archie? (laughing) - No, no, no, no. - The red head cool guy. - No, like if you were an animal. - Tiger, big tiger. - No, you'd be some type of bird. - Okay, that's better. - It's a slender bird. - No, but it's slender. Why do you say it slender? - We know some birds are slender like bones, yeah. - No, you know what it is. - It's not a penguin. - You're an eagle, dude. - Fuck yeah. - No, no, no, no, no, no, it's his eyes. - Look at his eyes. - Lots of blue. - No, don't do that. - Okay. (laughing) - Just look into Dylan's eyes. - I would do this often. - It's like he's got that locked-in thing. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - You know what I mean? - This part of your face. - This part of your face, I can see shoring above and like locking down. - It could be the nicest thing anyone said to me. I like that. - That's my lovely, which is being called an eagle. (laughing) - So good, I found out today. - What would I be, what would I be? - Yeah. - I was thinking about that as you were talking. - Probably a gorilla. - No, you just think because the hair though. - No, but you do kind of heavily. - He does use a gruff guy, am I? What do you mean? - A big jaw. - Yeah, a big jaw. - A strong guy. - Right, yeah, it calls always reminding me of my big jaw. - An owl. - An owl. (laughing) - An owl. - An owl, you could be an owl too though. - Well, I just saw the owl behind you. - Guys, what am I? - Muscrat. (laughing) - Like a fish? (laughing) - Look at fish. - Like a not edible one though. - Fish is no. - Not edible? - No. - So like a sturgeon. - Yeah, that's kind of cool. - I think you can eat sturgeon. I even feel like, yeah, I don't know. - You eat fish, I'm kind of what I am, say it. - You're close to being a bug. - Oh fuck. - You're very close to being a bug. - You were too nice at first, you had to bring your down to bug. - You had to bring your down to bug. - Yeah, yeah. - You had to bring your down to a nice bug? - Of course, of course. - Of course. - What's a nice bug? (laughing) - A ladybird. - A ladybird? - A ladybird lies here. - My son is terrified of bugs. - Helter son. - Tens five this year. - Five? - These turnts five. - You're the cutest girl I've seen. - You married? - No, about to, three months. - Amazing, congrats. - Yeah, can you help me? - Dill's I can make it. - I know, I'm not gonna hang it. - So we're gonna have to. - Why didn't you get invited to his wedding? - Yeah, you were a little busy. - I mean, you had to. - It was an Iceland son. - Yeah, or you didn't get invited to Dill's wedding? - No. - Oh, that was very nice. - I don't care, I don't care. - It was a long trip. - Oh, you don't? - No, I'm not one of those people that really cares about that kind of stuff. - It was tough, like, cutting out people though. - Honestly, I will say, I'm not bothered by that kind of stuff. I had a lot of friends. - Who would get bothered? - Take that kind of stuff really personally. I really don't. I couldn't care less if I wasn't invited to someone's birthday party. - I get the joy of missing out. - What are you doing? - People, I don't ever feel like they're like, hey, sorry, I didn't invite you. I'm like, dude, I actually had a better time at home. - Yeah, yeah. - I'd rather not go to most weddings. - Yeah, I don't like weddings much. But you also, we had the trick. He pulled the trick on everyone because we come back to LA. He's like, sorry, I didn't invite you to my wedding. You know, I'm having a big U.S.A wedding in about a year and a half. It's been five years now. He hasn't even started playing. You told everyone you didn't invite that you were going to have another wedding. - People are going to do a. - I thought you had a wedding. - He had one in LA. - Not in LA. - Because so we had our Hungarian wedding, which was like 180 Hungarians and 15 Americans, like it was like insane. So what's with your fascination with these people? - Um. - You have this wife? - No, no. - My wife's Hungarian. - You love, like, people. - Every time I've seen you, you've either had three huge Hungarians around. - Hungarians people around. - Or something. - I'm in the mafia. - I'm in the Hungarian mafia. - Those guys, by the way, are the biggest guys I've ever seen in my entire life. - You're a kiwi. You're a kiwi. - You're a kiwi. You're a big touch. - Yeah. - This physical touch. - Coming from a kiwi, that's pretty crazy. Because, like, the, like, Maori dudes I've met are always huge. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah. - And I'm Samoan too. So, a lot of similar energy. You know, a lot of these big guys who come from-- - They're much bigger than you? - Yeah, way bigger. - Yeah. - I'm not that big. - He's a small guy. - I'm pretty big. - I was going to ask you, do you think you work out so much because you have a fear of being small? - No, I work out because it keeps me, um, keeps my brain in line. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - You're like, it's a meditative thing? I work out, I do crazy things. - It's like hard. - Oh, cool. Well, speaking of strong guys, Dylan's wedding, one of the Hungarians broke someone's arm. - Yeah, did I ever show you that? - Did you know that? - No, I haven't. - We have a video that-- - Just snapped and have arm wrestling. - Yeah, this guy from LA comes. He's like, yeah, I can arm wrestle this Hungarian guy named Balthazar or something. And he goes up. - Jolte. - And he's going like, this guy's fucking huge. And all of a sudden, what song was on? - Dancing queen. - Dancing queen. It's like dancing queen. Young and sweet. - Everyone heard it. - Yeah. - It's like, "Heads will turn." - Why? - 'Cause they got stuck like this and then his wrist went and then it snapped here. - It went around the bicep and twisted so hard. - The guy must have been really weak. - No, dude. - Justin's actually like a beast. - Justin's a beast. But he had done two back-to-back, so he'd beat the previous winner. And then he's going into beating Kexi, who's like, Kexi was the guy who broke his arm. Life-long electrician, just like a big fucking dude. - Huge. - Completely. It's called a spiral fracture, something. The force went up to his bicep or the bone inside his bicep and spun it until the pressure just exploded like a tornado. - Did you hear about his little thing, Davey talked about that yet? - Yeah, we talked about that. - That one. - The whole invasion? - Yeah, piss me off there. - You know what we were joking about? - He was like, 'cause he acts like he's so tough, and now he is proof, you know? I can't say he's not a tough guy anymore. - It's the greatest. - Oh, and he had the gun out. He had the guy on the ground. I was in Long Island. I'd get the call. It's the greatest story. I told you what call lights up And the two people who called me after it happened were Cole and Brennan. They both go, "I'm so fucking mad." I know. Talk about the juxtaposition between, "I imagine," which is gnarly, which is the juxtaposition behind just growing up a happy, go-lucky boy in New Zealand to suddenly being on one of the biggest TV shows network television show, kind of out of the blue. And I mean, the worst part about it is that you had to be a redhead, but besides that, when I was young, I really felt, you know, because I started acting when I was 16, and then I was on this TV show, and then I was like, "I want to come to the States." And I had a lot of support in that, you know, my agent in New Zealand, Mandy Jacobson, who's I love her so much, took me out to the States to try and do this thing. And I just remember being young and being like, "I never had a thought of this isn't going to work." Oh, you just knew. No, I just wasn't, I had no fear, and I was 16 when I first visited, and then I moved out out there when I was 17. Polar opposite, dude. Just a lot of fear. Yeah. But this is a good comparison, I think, because it's so different how we ended up here. And oftentimes I look back and I am like that innocence is really, I think, what attracted it, who have a casting directors, managers, and stuff, because this is like earnestness that I had, this purity, and I feel, as I've gotten older, I'm like, I feel like some of the point of all of this is to like hang on to that curiosity as much as you can. I think it serves whatever it is that you do. I don't even think it needs to be creative, but it helps you relate to people in a way that, to me, is interesting, like I will refuse to be jaded, you know. And I feel like it's so -- I struggle with that. I struggle with that. And you know, the thing is, all the people that I've met in my life who really succeed, and I'm not talking about, like, minor success here or there, people who really succeed, there's this discourse that they have between themselves, which is they have to be blindly dumb to some of it, right? They have to say -- They think you can make it. I think if you overthink these things, you get in the way of yourself, and nothing gets created, right? Like, you're never actually going to create art, or you're never going to create a script, or create a show, or create anything like that. If you get in the way of thinking of all the steps that need to get you there, you need to kind of trip and fall into a lot of it. You need to make mistakes going into it, and the people who I know, who always make it the biggest level, are the ones who go, "This is my fun idea, and I'm going to just do it as fast as I can to get there and figure it out afterwards." And so I think that's kind of what you're saying happen to you, where you even come out. Yeah. Something that I learnt from a friend of mine who's really close to me, Kelly Blatz, who's a director and a writer, is you can't ever control anything, really, in life. And so following things, following instinct, following what's happening in front of you is the best way, I think, just following things. It's surrendering, surrendering, and having no expectation of what's going to happen. Bonnie, like my manager for years, you know, she's the best. One thing that she said that stuck with me always is she goes, "Dillon, when you work with people, the only hope that I have for you is you just work with people who you feel like want it the most, who you feel like you genuinely are interested in working it." It doesn't mean that they have the best ties to whoever it is. It doesn't mean they bring in their network in the best way. But if people come to you and they want to collaborate and they seem like they're genuinely interested about this and they have a hunger for it, they're going to be your number one partner in doing it and anything. And that's why I asked Brendan and not Cole to do this with him. Yeah, right, dude. I mean, Cole turned it down first. I do want to hear you first meeting Cole on set. Well, I was a huge fan of you guys. Really? You knew the brothers? Yeah, I was, I was, I was, that's ended now. I was a huge fan of this. No, no, no. I am still. Dude, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm working with someone I've watched my whole childhood and I met him at the lobby of the Sutton Place Hotel in Vancouver. Popular destination out there. And I was so nervous. So nervous meeting him. I still, he was so cool. I love that idea of Cole. Dude, I like the cool Cole. I thought he was so cool, dude. Was he nice? Yeah, he was so nice. Okay. Okay, good, good, good. And we were, we were mates immediately, you know, and, and having Cole throughout that experience was, was, I was grateful for it because he had been through all of the stuff that you guys went through and a lot of us had, you know, a lot of us felt that way. I think we felt like there was someone who could kind of, we could lean on it in a way. And yeah, we did kind of know that we were doing something special while we were shooting that pilot. There was an energy, there was a definitely like an energy that was really palpable. Yeah. Hey bro, shut up by the way. You know, they're like, I gotta say, hell no. No, but it was palpable. No, I agree. I agree. And Cole felt that way too. You know, one of the things that, that must be, it must be tough in a way. It must be tough. I've never spoken to you about this. Ask me. Ask me anything. Well, you guys are twins. Yeah. Same face. That looked, yeah. Well, that's so fast. I have a jawline with the same vibe, you know, essentially. And you're in the same industry. Yeah. I feel like. Is it anyone else in this? Yeah, there's, there's other people. Right. I mean, twins though. Like in Ashley. Yeah. I'll give you a funny anecdote. Cole calls me around the time. Who's the, who's the guy who played Bane again? I'm so bad. Tom Hardy. Tom Hardy doesn't movie where he's playing twins in it. And Cole, Cole calls me up and he goes, did you see, did you hear? And I was like, what? Oh, he's in the movie legend. Yeah, yeah. He was like, another twin role to a single actor. And I go, Cole, that's Tom fucking hardy. I have a red head role to a non red head. We're both pissed off. I was like, I was like, I don't think we were up for that. For a long shot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I think there's a very different after. But you as twins, you guys haven't played twins since the show. I think, yeah, no. Have you been in anything? Here's the thing. I've at 33 years old. I think there's a point. A man comes to in his life where he goes, these are my hand of cards. This is kind of what I've been dealt. And I've, I've noticed in the last like 10 years of my life, the things that I have a hand in developing are the things that I work most passionately on. Everything that I've really liked to work on has been a collaborative effort between people that I've like developed it with them and don't things like that. That has always been my hand of cards. Well, you're not a pretentious, you don't have really a pretentious bone in your body. I don't have an actory thing. I think people want to see. Also not in the sense of like when I'm going and auditioning, they're not like, oh man, he's going to be gnarly on set, but he's a genius. They're like, he's going to fart and burp in the trailer and he's going to be here. You're a second. I'm a second. I'm a second. I'm going to lead a team. Yeah, I'm going to lead a team, but I can't, like that's not my energy. I'm not like a crazy mad genius. I'm like, oh, that's a really fun guy to work with. So I work with a lot of people again. Yeah. And I'm proud of that fact. Like the things the project set have done, I've always worked with the same group of people. Two, three movies. Yeah. Right. There's a lot of different energy about him. And it like what his hand of cards is and what he's like identified works for him. Our hands are very different. And I'm going to joke about this when he comes on, but Cole walks into the room like we, if we both walked into a room where we knew nobody there. I walk in and people are like, yo, I want to talk to that guy and hang out with him. And everybody immediately might hate Cole. And I don't know why because he doesn't deserve it. He doesn't, he doesn't deserve it. Like he's the one that, like, I love my brother, death. He's one of the nicest, like most, he, I think he's incredibly intelligent. He speaks his mind clearly. He's like, he's very determined. He's also very sweet, but he's a very sweet guy. He like, on an instinctual level, upsets people. And I don't know how this happens. The thing about Cole that I notice and that I, that I continue to notice is there's an undeniable quality to certain people, especially actors. It's an energy when you walk into the room. The walking into a room is the perfect metaphor because it's, it's when somebody walks into a room, they are bringing something into the room that was no longer, that wasn't in the room before they came in. And so the energy that you bring in, I think is a little similar to the energy that I bring in, which is, when you just walked and we're, it was pumped, we're high five in immediately. Yeah. It's happy. Yeah. Yeah. Things change. It's like Mr. Freeze and everything turns to ice. It's that thing where you're watching, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're fixated. You're aware. You're aware. You're aware. You're aware. You're aware. You're aware. Exactly. Yeah. You're aware. Yeah. You're aware. Exactly. Yeah. Like Cole and I would walk into places in Vancouver all the time and get called You know anything above the sun. Yeah, I remember we almost got into a fight Call likes to get a fish. Oh, yeah, I've been around he punched me in the face. Yeah, I remember you ran like an ostrich I was there I he punched you then you ran away he punched me in the face and I ran Well, which was I looked at my brother after that and I was like Dude you could have just died like I hate I was trying to chase after you. I was like, oh dude I'm gonna get him I'm gonna be able to pop up you were three blocks away by the time I was like just getting my bearings I called you I was like my god, you might still have the voice. I was crying behind it I was crying He hit me because we were in a strip club and I and At this time I was doing a lot of drugs and a lot of my close friends were worried about me and he had learnt that I was doing drugs again and Because it was it was a lot of the nicest punch you could get right there. It's a caring punch It was kind of a wake-up punch. I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did it wrong. You know many should have definitely used his shoulder Yeah, yeah, no, it was a wake-up punch dude. I mean, I thought like You're you're you and Cole's interaction I was thought was like really beautiful as a brother because I go first off You worry for your sibling when he goes out and he does a show where he's not from and he lives there for you You guys were up in Vancouver for what six years? Yeah, six seven years. Yeah And I go well, he's not gonna have anyone he's really close to and I worry I worried about him, but then you know He calls me and he called me all the time and he was like I got to tell him so glad KJ's here I'm glad you guys have you guys had an interaction which then I immediately knew as a brother I was like okay, he's safe. He's safe. He has at least someone who's like of a similar mentality to him That's some other kind of person. Yeah, that's why I never visited. Oh, yeah But do you do you guys ever get jealous of each other? There's you know, I think we in the beginning we did for sure I think they'll try out for Riverdale. I did not try out for Riverdale. I was funny enough to the previous point I was a little jaded. There was a part of me that was like I just Don't fuck with this anymore. I just don't fuck with it. I've seen so much over the years that like Have just been out of my control and I think maybe that's a weakness in me But I just like I need a little bit more control than I had over my cold was gonna be an archeologist Yeah dealing you were in video game design I mean they both are when I met him in college. They both told me they didn't want to ever act again They're like done with it. So you you with them in college. Yeah, so I knew him and why you know what you doing? I was a film school right? Yeah. Yeah, he's an I do comic books He's a very good writer, but you guys were done with the whole fucking thing And I think when Cole and I step back into the scene number one It was like it was a little bit of pragmatism. We were like oh well first off We've developed ourselves for so many years It took us a while to go through college and be like I actually do kind of like this now that it's on our own terms Yeah, um choose when because you know growing up a child actor It's kind of out of your control and then finally when it was a little bit more on our own terms We were like oh, but Cole no, I've never been I don't think after the age of like 18 I don't know if I could say that. I've been jealous of him. I will say to what we were talking about previously Because our hand of cards is different. I would say that the jealousy I experience is not one of like You got a role that I wanted or anything like that more so. I'm jealous of his way to communicate with the people who are important to communicate with this in this industry and effectively I definitely do not have that and I I want to learn from him a little bit in that way Um, and I just haven't been very successful at it and I am I think jealous. He's the wrong word. I feel like I have More to learn from Cole about that interaction. Well, I'm sure he feels the same way about the qualities that you possess that he doesn't have He does we've talked about it. Yeah, you know, I think that's part of the growing as twins thing Which is really interesting which you go like the you know, the things that are really different about us You also it's grass is always greener. What was it like being in college with these two? Well, I was just thinking about that It's talk is let's get these two when the first time I met him have not ever mixed you guys upwards You guys give off so much different so much different ors. It's crazy I met Dylan first and you were again the fun guy and the cold would come around and he was you know He was like always he's the dark wizard He's just kind of hard. He's just the dark wizard He's just sitting in the corner not the happiest guy sometimes but then you know mean Cole We've been at each other's next couple times and then really really well because I was always better friends with Dylan And then he'd come around and be like oh look who it is Brendan And then he invites us on Dylan's bachelor party and he runs it And he has us on a bus for like 10 hours a day just all around Iceland looking at waterfalls And like and I started losing it at Cole mean we're yelling at each other And then after the bachelor party mean Cole have now become like we're like very good buds I'll tax them we talk all the time yeah, but it took us getting to each other's throats Because I think you know we saw how close we were and he didn't want But now now I have enough room for both of the brothers I also think Cole has like as his brother I go I think he's also grown a lot As a human in last word it's same with you where I look at you guys now We've all kind of known each other you guys just met obviously, but we've all kind of known each other separately for such a long time And I go like now we're going to the age where you can see like a definitive growth Right like I see you as a man now very different from when I first met you I think also there's a correlation between that and getting to a place in your life where you know What you have to give to the world you know, it's a clear thing confidence yeah, there's a clear You have a clear sense of identity of this is what I have this is what I have to give And then just following that yeah, you know, I think when I first came off Riverdale I had no idea what that was yeah, I didn't know if I liked acting I didn't know if I belonged in this industry and it took a few years Honestly, the first day was getting sober yeah, I just had so much cloudiness, you know, I had so many things That I was doing that was so unhealthy that kind of bred throughout that show and maybe because of You know, you know The environment, isolation having my shirt off all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like even just experiencing fame And what you know, I like You know, I remember getting my get it get like having a paparazzi person taking my photo for the first time and feeling like Feeling that yeah, yeah, but also Feeling this like I want that again. Oh, I mean you liked it and then and then you get it again and you feel Discussed by it. Yeah, but you feel this equally collecting emotion equally like that's so validating. Yeah I hired that guy by the way and he sent me those And they're really yeah, I told him get the worst photos ever. I want to crush his identity here. Yeah, you're too hot No, but it's it's it feels good to be at a point in life where Like we were saying before when you are able to Stop doing something that you know or all of the things that you know aren't good for Your when you's the only call it mana your power mana and like magic power like that's they use man a lot of the ore again Yeah, it's that's the weird mana comes. I think that's cool mana. Yeah, how long have you been sober now? I've been sober you're in a half okay perfect. So you're all the mana but it's been like six years man I know anything that I Anything that makes me feel good. Yeah, I will abuse to be something that I've learned about myself I mean even eating my my relationship with eating is Especially on that show was bad you know and craft services kind of a crazy thing for people who like I don't know You don't eat donuts all day long go back to my trailer throw up. Yeah, bro And especially because you had to be ripped like I was a I was on Disney Channel I was back in but I was crushing I was joking about this earlier crushing chocolate choco tacos Crushing them bro. Let me tell you the story. Yeah This is Let's go. Let's go. But it's the perfect honestly. It's the it's the perfect way to explain That addictive Quality that I had that I will always have and now you think we identified I've identified it I know what it is and now I know how to talk to it. Mm-hmm. So I was um I was quarantining In Vancouver. I quarantined like three times dude, which means I had to stay in my apartment for two weeks I wasn't even allowed to go out so I go out the fridge by the way is gnarly enough for addictive people Like that's gnarly. I was I was so gnarly. Yeah, it was so gnarly for a week of that I think I one of them. I didn't even sleep. I was awake. You just wait the entire time. I was awake doing things I shouldn't have been doing and then so this one time I was quarantining. I was in a house with um two of my friends on the show And I was trying to get I was trying to be sober. Yeah, and not you know spoke weed or anything And I remember I was so hungry one. I was also trying to lose a lot of weight because I was going back to work And when I'm on a vibe of I'm trying to get into shape. I'm like beast mode. I'm like you're obsessed about it Yeah, you liked it And so which then also makes me do crazy shit. Yeah, but um I ordered this I ordered all of this McDonald's and I would like three big Macs like bunch of McNuggets and stuff Fried milkshake and I ordered it. It's like two a.m. I'm like about to beast mode this thing and I slam like half of it and immediately it's like The regret just hits him. Yeah, do you feel it in your stomach? Why do I do that? Why do I do that? - I piss on the rest of the food. (laughing) - I mean, you're not gonna eat it. - Dude, I took it outside. - It's a good way. - I took it outside. I pissed all over it. (laughing) - It's big. - You wanna go through the trash? - I go, I go, throw up all the food that I ate. - You're like, no, it's easy to piss. - I was an alley, dude, I was an alley. Thankfully, I'm, you know. - No, no, hey, that's fucking, honestly. - Yeah, I'm not done. - Oh, okay, let's go, let's go, let's go. - I go back outside about 20 minutes later after lying there and bad being like, I'm hungry again, 'cause I've, all the food is now out of my body. - Yeah. - And when you do that, you get hungry again really quickly. - You didn't eat the piss food, did you? - I went downstairs. I go outside, it's there, right? And I start eating around the piss. (laughing) - I ate the rest of the food and left the piss the soaking piss food there. - Which was the shit you didn't piss on? - I could've just ordered more food. - You could've just got more food. - Right, I needed to have it right now. And you also needed to punish yourself and make it harder for yourself. - Exactly. - You needed to punish yourself. So, but I've, bro, I've got heaps of sorts. I remember when I was 18, the same thing in my brain, it was only like my first movie, a movie that no one's ever saying that. I don't even know if it came out, but I didn't see it. I remember being stopped. - Scott Atkins? Is he in it? - Yes. - Yeah, yeah. I saw that, it came out like four years later. I love Scott Atkins. - Yeah, it's a psychopath. - I drew my research. I was like, he's the man. - He's the man. I was gonna ask you about it 'cause I love Scott Atkins. - He's the man. - He makes like four movies a year and I watch each one. - Oh, he's a beast. I love it. - Yeah. - Great martial arts. - I'm in this motel and it's four a.m. I wake up, starving. And I remember there was a Dunkin' Donut. I'm in Plymouth and America was founded in Plymouth. - So the rocks right down there, yeah? - And I was starving and I was like, there's a Dunkin' Donuts down there and I was lying there like, reasoning like with myself being like, they gotta be putting those donuts somewhere at the end of the day. And I was like, I get out of bed, I get changed. I walked down to the Dunkin' Donuts. There's this big bin, I'm like, bingo. No lock on the bin. Open the bin. Black bags, I'm like, you're kidding me. No way. This is like, nolly. Rip open the bag. Trays of fresh donuts, dude. - Dude, where are you at? - I figured out. - Where are you at? - I figured it out. - I figured it out. - Raccoon. - Raccoon. - Raccoon. - Raccoon. (laughing) - That's too easy. - You're going to trash, you food. - You know, we were talking a little bit about the kind of upcoming roles that you have, a little bit about your interest in acting. Now it's a pertains to you at this stage of your life. And I've found that like, something that I've found interesting about you is a lot of the stuff that you take is very transformative. A lot of the stuff that you actually want to act in is like a big departure from who you are actually. - From the most famous American comic book, the most famous American actor, I think, Jimmy Stewart. - Yeah, right. - Same birthday as me, May 20th, no big deal. - Oh, no big deal. - One of my favorites of all time, yeah. I'm very excited, yeah. - What's your, what's your favorite movie? - Which one? - Managed shot, Liberty Valence, I think. - Yeah. - How about you? - That's a good one. - Yeah, it's a great one. - Are you a Vertigo guy or? - No. - My favorite one. - My favorite one is, Mrs. Smith goes to Washington. - Oh, it's so good. - I mean, it is just so good. - And you're going after, when he goes with Frank Capra, after you went to World War II, who wins an Oscar, goes World War II, comes back, and then does, it's a wonderful life. - It's the sickest one of the best - It's one of the most famous American, yes. - My, my, I've always wanted to play a character that supports the Patriots of America. - Yeah. - Because America has given me everything that I have right now. - Exactly. - And Jimmy Short is the perfect representation of that. - It's a mixture of America, right? - Yeah. And I honestly wasn't that familiar with him growing up and you know, or Old Hollywood or stuff. I wasn't really that interested in that as a kid or anything, but when I learned about him, I was like just in awe of. - And everything you read, and then about Frank Capra too. I mean, they did the Doc 5 came back, which son Netflix was awesome. - They really brought out the best. - I'm really excited for the movie. I cannot wait. - Thanks man, yeah. - Oh, it's awesome. - How'd you do it? - That's a tough, 'cause everyone has their Jimmy Stewart impression. - I called James Franco. - Did you? - Why not? - Because I've known him, he helped me get sober. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And he's helped me a lot in my life and that regard. And I really respect him as an actor. - Mm-hmm. - And I grew up watching, you know, James Franco. - I love him. - I think he's such an incredible actor. And he did such a good job playing James Dean. - Yeah, yeah. - Oh yeah. - Yeah, he did a sick job doing that. And I caught up with him. I, James is so funny, dude. I was like, can I, can I catch up? And I just got a few questions about why. He's like, yeah, sure, come meet me here. I met up with him. And he's doing, he's at a photo. I thought we met up for coffee. - Yeah. - And he's getting, he's at a photo. - He's getting, he's getting his photo. - So I'm like, he's getting his photo second. And he's like, looking at any photo. And he goes, so what's the movie? - I don't know while he's getting it. (all laughing) And I'm sitting there also, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, there's other people in the room. And I'm like, feel weird about you. And then I go back to his dressing room, he's getting changed, his head's over the curtain, and he's telling him, he's like, so, - He's like, like, the Hollywood, you gotta read every book. Just immerse yourself. Immerse yourself, blah, blah, blah. And I record the whole thing on my phone. - Oh, yeah. - But he basically, 'cause I only had four weeks, and he gave me a lot of good advice. - It's quick. - Yeah. - Yeah, especially for his voice, because his voice is exactly like that. - That was a great impression about that. - Well, I've been trying it all night. I was like, I'm really gonna stun. I can't wait to meet you just so I can give him a ride. - I can't, I can't wait to meet you just so I can give him a ride. - Dude, but that was just curious. - My grandpa ran him down once, 'cause they were from the same town, in my whole life, my grandpa wanted to meet Jimmy Stewart. - Are you from Indiana? - No, my dad, my dad's families from there, so they moved down, and they went to this, it was a prayer of something. You have my grandpa ran him down, he goes, you're a skokie from a skokie or something. And he was like, I catch phrase, and everyone's like, who the fuck is this guy? And then Jimmy turns around, he goes, you bastard, and they laughed, and he was like, it made my grandpa's life. He was like, he was like, everything Jimmy did made someone's life. He was like the sweetest, nicest guy in this crazy, so. - To be able to kind of not do an imitation, 'cause everyone does a Jimmy Stewart imitation, was like the biggest challenge I think for me to be able to do the voice without looking like, and then, what's your cause playing it? - Exactly, and then the trailer came out, and it was funny because you do all of this work before you go into the thing, and you're kind of like in No Man's Land, preparing for something that no one's seen yet. The director hasn't even seen it yet, 'cause you know, I'm not gonna call up the director, be like, hey, listen to this voice. - What do you think that is? - 'Cause I was thinking like, how, do I just wait 'til I'm on set to do the thing? - Right, the first time he sees Jimmy. - Just gonna trust yourself, man. And then, and then, and then your answer. 'Cause you give, like, it wasn't wrong at first, you're gonna be like, let me get it. You should've done it really bad, the first take. - You're gonna be like, just kidding, guys. - The table read was first, it was a Zoom, and-- - The Zoom too, man. - Isn't great in general, that's not it. - No, but I turn my video off. I had my video on for the first two minutes, and it was so weird when you're playing something so out there, and you're in a thing when no one's really that tapped in yet, we're doing a table read. As soon as I turn my video off, no one's watching, so you can, you can, you know-- - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - That's a good point. - And then, you're on set, and you just gotta go for it, dude. And I'd heard so many stories that really encouraged me, like, I heard about Tom Hanks in Forest Gump, and I heard that, you know, he had worked with the director on this character, and apparently the studio, whatever, was like, this is, you can't do that. (laughing) And it ended up being one of the most iconic performances, you know, ever. - It was a great role, yeah. - Not saying that, well, this is gonna be, but I'm saying-- - It is. I mean, it started an entire shrimp restaurant. (laughing) - Your bubblegum is still around. - Yeah. - You and your dad go there once a week, which is crazy. - I love coquetry. - Yeah. - They just go to the Universal Lot and go to Bubblegum Strip. - What is it with these movies? - It's, I think it was a different day. I don't think it could happen anymore. - But a movie's, a movie's the same, like, movies, movies were so, or is it just because I'm nostalgic about these movies, and we know them, or like, to people who are our age, and we watch those movies, think the same thing about the movies that are coming out. Like, or-- - Like, from 2000. - What's the deal with movies, right? (laughing) - I will say this. Are they still cool or no? - Did you watch my projection? - No, I did see it, no. - Did you? - I watched it, yeah. - What did you think? - Well, you're gonna say something. - Well, I will say this. I will say, like, some of my favorite movies, obviously, like, any, like, John Carpenter movie, a big, John Carpenter movie. - Of course, yeah. - Great. - If I think of, like, all right, let's say, weirdly, and we'll take a wild one, like, a big, Kurt Russell guy, too. - Yeah. - We'll talk about, like, big trouble, right? Big trouble in a little China. You go, "That movie had a budget of what? What do you think?" - 20. - 20. - What do you think? - What do you think? - Was it Jimmy? - No, no. (laughing) - $20 million dollar, okay, right? - $20 million dollars for a movie like that. - It's probably way less. I'm way off. - No, dude, I think it would-- - How much was it a 20? - 20. - 20. - 20. - Okay, $20 million dollars for a movie like that? - It was a bomb. - You would never be it, but you wouldn't even be able to sneeze at near a budget like that for a movie of that, like, script's quality nowadays. The people were taking risks on movies in that day and age. That were-- - Yeah, that's what it is. - That's what it is. - That were growing so much money at projects that were niche, like, hear things. You know, you're doing pulp movies, or you're doing these massive budget movies that are just really strange and out there. And nowadays, there's no risk. I don't think people are taking the same risk. Risks is the greatest thing in life, I think. When you can take a risk, and you can fail, it's just as beautiful as-- - Well, that's what got you a lot of trouble. What I find, what I find really interesting as your buddy is I go, you know, what I know about you personally, like as your friend, and as what I consider like a brother to not only my brother, but to me, I hang out with you and I go, you take yourself very seriously when it comes to the art that you make and you separate that from like who you are in a lot of ways, there's that division, you do that not only with, you know, your fitness, you go like you take everything, the things that you take seriously, you take extremely serious, like you have a kind of monk-like quality to what you do and I think like the structure that you found for yourself really works and I want to say just as your buddy I'm proud to see you do that as a father, like a new father to be inspired and I will be messaging you to find out some tips and tricks that you have because you've been at it for like four years now, but just to kind of wrap this all up in a bow, you know, it's, we're talking about risk and we're talking about things in general, Brennan and I are doing a little bit of a risk trying a podcast as funny as it sounds, like we're, I know it's crazy, but the market for like 30-year-old white guys doing podcasts is really small. So we want to like try to really break into that small market. People will be dying to hear what I have to say. I know, people are really excited about it, so wait, to me to have someone I could call a friend like you show up and talk openly like this, I really appreciate it and I love you and I thank you for saying all this. Love you too, man. Thanks for having me and I appreciate all of those words, it means a lot.