[Music]
just got my calisthenics
today it's always good to catch up with
your buddy and I can tell that we chose
the right place and I can't even take
credit
you chose the place yeah I mean I I stay
around the corner and I love these guys
and always come in and so I just feel
like I love small business and it's very
cozy and lots of my first things
yourself
so what's the meaningfulness of guitars
and music in your life growing up did
you want to be a rock star before you
want to be an actor or well no no I knew
I would never know I just I love love
music my mom surrounded me with music
and then um I could never we could never
really afford it in this kind of stuff
and so I feel like when you're on set
and stargates when it all kicked off I
just kind of went I wanna I love the
blues and like I just want to grow old
and when Aquaman hangs up his Trident
he's gonna go back and play a little
guitar it's fun man okay so there's a
lot to talk about you've got a lot of
amazing things going on congratulations
on the new Apple show C is an epic being
here to see a little bit I watched the
first four four I know people I know you
it's been a long strange trip to say the
least about your career for our yes our
in our paths in our past do but no but I
want to talk about your career today
because it got started your big break
was as a planters peanut on the side of
a road yeah exactly
my aunt ran Walgreens she's a manager
and so they had like a planters peanut
and I went out there and put the thing
on and danced around in the street his
folks no no I mean I was just a young
kid and I got for cash right were you
good at it did you have a good you
mentioned Hawaiian born in Honolulu
raised in Iowa yeah your childhood
defines anybody but that's an
interesting position it is very well how
you thinking it to find you growing up
did you feel like you had a certain
place in the world did you Rican fused
about where you were what it's a
different boy
yeah and when I go there I just did to
connect about the same time was such a
beautiful like it's paradise this is
weird
spot of my life that I don't fully know
and that's what you know I got old I
wanted to go get to know them better
yeah
but growing up in Iowa I think it's
amazing the Midwest like where I grew up
it's that's America and it's flat you
can have fun in Iowa anywhere and it's
great I mean like I love Iowa so what
brought you back to Hawaii as a teenager
so out of school you go back and you're
working in a t-shirt chocolate Sanderson
yeah I was um I was in Colorado I was
trying to get in-state tuition to go to
college so I was just working like three
or four jobs and a bunch of things
happened but I needed to leave there and
I saved a bunch of money that's the
interview I was gonna go on this on this
on this trip around France and you
rock-climb some of that but I was
busting tables and I say too much of
money and then I saw this this video
with my family and it was called in
God's hands and it was towing into big
surf and I couldn't believe was a
blockbuster and I saw it and I was like
what am i doing rock climbing and color
I don't have the biggest surfing family
in the world
paradise waiting for me yeah so I'm
gonna take the summer off I flew over
and I just saved my dad's and lives on
the floor there and and got to know him
better and just like you know not just a
vacation dad like actually post up for
months at a time and annoy him and him
annoy me and and and in the process you
get a big gig at the toy yeah and then I
was working in the family surf shop and
then a TV show came and you know all the
cousins went down there to go meet
what'd she do at 19 right tons of
beautiful women down there and so I was
gonna say hi to him and then in a month
of auditions and the day I was supposed
to go back like I was tickets going back
to Colorado was the day I got the job in
Hawaii I guess as a 19 year old like
that's a dream come on
like that's a dream yeah but like for my
kids from Iowa like what biology major
like that's the brains and I mean like
it was not planning on going to be a bit
why you like laughable yeah like it
especially to me but my whole family
worked on like we did all the water
safety do a lot of cool things like
right you know trying to change the
whole Baywatch stigma and I did whatever
I wanted to
I'd watch a movie and watch like Fight
Club and then I play which characters on
over here I watched heat and I just go
play I just didn't care right
I would just mess around so I'm watching
Baywatch I can see you doing a little
heat what a Michael Mann he'd be like I
got two dead bodies sorry damn chicken I
mean as a hardcore heat fan that's so I
would just see something go like you
know I'd be like doing you definitely
see me one like that's right and I'd be
like doing weird [ __ ] like mix and
you'll see me and he's gonna like up no
I was just watching you know use it yeah
so I just played and then you know I
thought it was always like this and I'm
wife flew in to LA and I was living a
little studio and tried to go audition
and meet agents and no one would it was
just like douchey like for years I'm
just like no didn't go well like I'm 20
I'm gonna go travel the world and you
know I was a big rock climber so I just
went to you know France Tibet Italy all
the things I wanted to do and I just
backpacked and climbed and amazing
everything I've ever wanted to do if it
all failed go back to school okay so say
like some of the Aquaman had come up at
25 and you had got in it do you think
you would have been able to handle that
kind of oh no it would have been bad I'm
really thankful and I always kind of
felt that that if I got through all my
career early it would it just you just a
little bit I mean you're wise now but
you know within constraints you know you
see it happen you know I mean the kid
just too young for that kind of stuff
and you get that kind of money thrown at
you it was good to keep me yeah for long
what about Game of Thrones at certain
points in someone's career the right
character comes at the right time for
the right person it seems like this is
what happened for you did it feel like
when you landed that role you knew what
it could be for your career no you never
think that movie about dragons is gonna
like - really well I just when I
finished Stargate Atlantis and I did
four seasons of it I was like I don't
want to do this kind of work like not
yeah it's just like III gotta I'm 26 I
want to do movies and I want a shot at
this I've been hiding up in Canada
just doing a sci-fi show no one knows me
yeah but it taught me how to that's why
he direct and that's what I can do all
the stuff and because I learned every
day I was like college four years of
like solid work yep and I knew and it
was close with everyone and then I had
an accident where my is the bar yeah and
so that really set me back and I took a
year off and like you know I'd both the
kids then and it was spooky thanks dad
dad
good old Hawaiian Visor saved me perfect
combo yeah so you know you you read it I
just wanted you HBO I'm like man just
HBO quality get on there and then you
read the audition it's pretty gnarly
it's not the easiest thing to audition
for him yeah don't say much but I knew
that in the book was phenomenal and I
could do some great things with it so
you didn't know I didn't know it was
gonna be that big I mean it's it's the
greatest show on earth hands down
there's it's phenomenal and it was
perfect I just I was in it just enough
exactly that's what's great about see
fast for my new show an apple of us it's
a pro is that all the things I wanted to
exercise yes I'm never gonna do you know
I mean like we just fell in love then he
dies and it's like oh you have a huge
arc even the few episodes of the series
yeah absolutely we didn't get a fighting
game of Thrones and I mean I wrote that
I mean I brought that up to Dan and Dave
ago like I want to have a little some
fight see yes Josh most people hire me
for that and so we made the one where I
just move in a bit rota which is great
but I'm like slow and then wait till
episode three of C so that was my that
was my pitch to Francis okay so we're in
kind of like a post-apocalyptic kind of
a world
everyone's won the ability to see is
gone I mean I'm you look like Mad Max
the TV series it's like a big swing at a
concept yeah that what hook - you like
the just the idea of it the concept yeah
cuz with Steven Knight I mean he's all
idea of like it's really like that all
those tribes in Native American tribes
were like Comanches the Apaches and yes
like the Pawnee and having America back
what it was and if you stripped
everything away and no technology and
you got to start all over right and it's
just it's
it's cool reinventing it and then you
know reinvent everything by using your
senses by removing vision you're
heightening and strengthening all your
other senses which is just really cool
to do as a fight scene what you see and
how connected it is and how we would
navigate through the world and I'm
playing a character that's has to be
firing on all these other senses you're
not trying to block them right cover
them up you're actually quite an
ultimate where you really connected
almost like an animal to the environment
which we should be because we're
extremely disconnected yeah and vision
is very overrated you tangle with a a
bear in this one I do
I never piles 9 foot tall he stands on
his hind leg what's it like to work with
it after that's actually bigger than you
it was it was a trip because you know
I'm the father and I don't want to die
but secretly and what he can do in the
power behind those things is amazing ok
let me go back a little bit because one
thing I didn't Game of Thrones your
relationship with Emilia everybody loves
you guys obviously this is a friendship
that will stand the test of time how
much does the success of your run on
that show you think rest on the
chemistry and friendship you had with
Emilia Clarke oh no no the books from
amazing has nothing to do with me in her
French the series was amazing because of
me relationship needs to work I mean
that's that tension and that's yeah yeah
absolutely yeah we saw your I think your
wide reaction to the end of Game of
Thrones so you were not a fan of where
Danny ended up safe to say no no no do
you think I'm like you know I blame John
get a loved it better no no the TV show
my best thing like literally the best
friends are David and Dan so I'm like no
we're all close so I don't know it would
be cool to see Jason Momoa and a Star
Wars film what do you say buddy you know
I want to play well hon can you guess
and it's already an established
character
okay I hope that you're telling me all
this what we can you imagine like at one
point you go any dude it takes it and
you go like because think about think
about who the dad is
oh yeah I got what do you think but I
think it'd be sick right yeah how do you
told that to any of these Star Wars
powers that big no just told that to you
job so don't blab it like we can hint
things and then make people guess it's
in there if you listen to what I say
okay we have to talk a little Aquaman a
waste um you auditioned at first for
Batman you might be the only guy that
was probably too big for the Batman
costume Ben's big that's huge that's a
big advantage yeah did you know when you
were doing the Batman edition that maybe
this wasn't the right I almost didn't go
in I thought this is dumb Batman's not
gonna be my tint no way we're hiring me
to play Batman
Zach was very very like I want to see
him I want to see the tape bring him in
yeah so I fought my agent so I was like
fine I'll do it
and but I just decided to do it in total
different way that if that man got
mugged right advice to people in an
alleyway like gangster walks up puts his
thing on he just doesn't give to and so
I just played it that way cuz it was
already an existing scene right it was
just gonna be it's just a booby trap
it's just I knew it was a booby trap so
I just clearly showed him something cuz
he very soon after brings you back and
says yeah
Aquaman yeah so it seems to me doesn't
from our past conversations and and
others you've had your dead of the Zack
Zack Snyder's totally he told your life
told it so is that partially why when we
spoke about a year ago and I brought up
a Snyder cut you're like yeah I need to
see that yeah absolutely but I have seen
so you've seen I've seen a stat okay so
so what is that what does that mean
because the effects aren't done like you
just see you've seen his assemblage of
footage and alternate takes since that
or do you think he's I couldn't
there's a you know the I don't know you
tell me he's he's finished I'm a listen
man thanks question do you think we'll
ever see it do you think the public will
ever see it at this point cuz it seems
like it's actually the groundswell has
grown and yes you know I'm obviously
indebted to mourners in DC and you know
I don't know how they feel about it but
I mean right as a fan I'm very very
happy that I got to see it does that
feel like a totally different movie than
the Justice League it was released you
okay here's hoping
okay I know you went into one of those
recently and talked about Aquaman - yeah
um I might be fired now but seems like
they responded to it I mean whatever
yeah they're beautiful I mean like I
went in to go I love this character this
is how I see and we wanted to move this
way yeah let me just keep shot at it and
so I went in and pitched it and I think
you know Walter Amato and the DCA was
kind of like you know obvious like it
he's like you never know how to feel
about that in front pitches you were
shown you're like oh it's like that
horrible thing where you go like it's
gonna suck but he's pleasant they're all
pleasantly surprised it I think how
old-fashioned I was about it and
obviously it's gonna have the original
writer and they're right yeah I know you
can't reveal anything about specifics
but like what didn't you get to that you
want to cover as the guy the face on the
post there's just a lot of family that I
want to you know we've like just and
family stuff okay and and I think it's a
lot of things that we need to fix in
this world and it's the perfect
superhero it's like we're not fighting
things out another plan either yeah
things are it's like there's we have our
own superhero problems here yeah that we
can really shine a light on some things
that need to be fixed and I feel like
there's a the perfect character like
bring it on home that segues a nice
thing so one other topic I do want to
bring up which is your activism when did
that resonate with you as a kid was a
kid yeah there was an environmental
class and there was also you know I want
to be marine biologist and so we studied
that in Iowa and we'd go down to the
keys and then do the the work back and I
won it's always been connected so it's
really cool to kind of come full circle
be able to speak on behalf of certain
things bring awareness to it try to find
ways to make it fun right I mean
ultimately people are gonna change
elicit makes someone money
all right unfortunately but we need to
stop the plastic since I mean there's a
lot of stuff that we can do yeah and
there's a lot of solutions to it but
people won't do it until it's like push
to the absolute break but we need kits
like times ticking man yeah I don't like
being preachy I don't like being
preached at I feel like there's some
ways we can change and so I'm just
trying to do it you're doing your yeah
yeah that's good stuff there's a lot to
do so I mean you just got to pick a
couple yeah you do have another
superhero / supervillain in the family I
know a new Catwoman Zoey that's amazing
great kids great casting didn't even
give you the heads-up that she was
auditioning yeah what did you say when
she mentioned like I mean I was just
like done you booked it I told her I was
like I put it out there it's already
done and she says don't curse I'm like
anchors and I put it out there it's key
got it amazing
bring back full circle to the show see
so you shot the first season this is
huge I mean Francis Lawrence a great
director I think goodness yeah sweet guy
but knows the world oh yeah I'm gonna do
I think my next three I wrote another
thing that I brought in and he's gonna
do it like me and him we're gonna be
linked up like hopefully for a decade
smart guy did hook up with love Francis
it's been a good last year like Francis
and Denis were like these are like two
like gods for me can we talk about City
for a second okay so I'm obsessed with
Denis what was it like to be on his sets
to go from this role where you're
blinded you're not looking making eye
contact with anyone
yeah wrap the show fly straight to
Jordan and then my first scenes up or
like I'm sitting next to and I'm a
fanboy yeah I'm sitting to Josh Brolin
Timothy Shalom II and then in walks
Javier Bardem who I'm like Javier and
Denise you're like yeah some bouncing
boys and I look up to them and Javier
walks in I have never ever ever ever
seen a performance like that in my life
and he just tears it up unbelievable
and that's why Oscar winner you know
yeah last time that was Nicole and I'll
come in I've ever experienced one like
just wow I'm so bad I'm gonna do a
little more work but it's it's it's
firing I'm sort of fully and then you
got Denise like his vision
he's just so beautiful.i he's taught I
mean he's right up there for me your
self-confidence must be a little bit
higher I was so nervous I still it
doesn't matter like I'm just absolutely
terrified I'm happy that I'm getting
these places and yeah but I mean like
you know we just did sorry I didn't and
I'm freaking out nervous I just still
have it you know maybe I should feel a
little bit more regal about the whole
thing but I don't I'm still like a
little kid no I totally do
so but it's what you mentioned you
popped up again an SNL so suddenly
you've gone from like this being the
ultimate dream to a great host now you
pop in now you're kind of like a part of
the company this must just blow your
mind it's the coolest thing ever and I
think everyone because I just see you
like a kid yeah I'm ultimate for me so
pop it in people no man like just the
crew and being able to talk to everyone
it's just it's it's cool I want to do it
for rest of my life are we any closer to
seeing you in an actual film comedy that
I know there's a Will Ferrell product
that sounded know I had that one fell
through because my script wasn't there
but I mean like I would love to comedy
I'm not sure if there's any room the
curse of success is your schedule yeah
but I mean like I would love to I mean
can't wait to do comedy yeah only you
know I'm funny job well I'm just saying
like I love characters like Khal Drogo
and Baba Voss but wouldn't you like to
play like a guy named Dave at some point
to be in tracksuit pants and just keep
boom like I love to