-Welcome back. -Thank you.
Thanks for having me. -That was you -- that was you
and Cedric the Entertainer right there.
-It was, and it's funny.
It's a very serious and somber movie
that I love, but it is hard to find a funny moment,
and you found it. -Yeah. We found the one,
because this is not -- -Yeah, yeah, mined it out.
-Do not let the presence of Cedric the Entertainer
lead you astray. This a very serious movie.
You play a priest in upstate New York.
-Right. -A small -- in a small church
who is having a crisis of faith. -Exactly.
-Yeah, whereabouts does the crisis come from?
-It comes from counseling a young man who is experiencing
severe depression about what's happening with the environment.
And I play this priest who takes his crisis
really seriously, and hilarity begins there.
[ Both laugh ]
Laughs ensue. No, it's a brilliant movie.
It's written by the guy who wrote "Taxi Driver"
and "Raging Bull," Paul Schrader.
-Paul Schrader, yeah. -He's a brilliant director,
and when I read it, it was one of these scripts
where he's just giving voice to something that I think
a lot of people are feeling right now -- a level of anxiety
about our leadership and about our faith
and where it intersects with love and what we are doing,
and it was -- It blew me away when I read it.
And, so, it's an honor to be here.
-And you play a priest in this film.
You actually had family in your life who thought
that would be a good career path for you.
Actual priesthood. -Yeah, my great grandmother
thought that -- she felt certain when I was born
that I would receive the calling.
-Oh, wow. -And I would be a priest.
And I remember being very concerned,
"What is this thing, the calling?"
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-Well, God will come to you, and tell you, and I was like,
"Okay. I do not want that to happen."
[ Laughter ]
"When will that happen?" "Well, in silence."
Okay, I'm avoiding silence at all costs.
And I was so happy when she kind of decided that,
well, my calling was the arts. -That's good.
-But I did, when I put the collar on the first time,
I thought of her, and thought, "Hey, grandma, I'm back."
-There you go. "I got the calling."
-Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's very -- I think she would be sad that the calling
came from your agent.
[ Laughter ]
"Big news, Ethan, you're a priest!"
-Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
-Were your parents -- when -- you know obviously,
you found your way to the arts at a young age,
were they supportive of this idea
of you trying to be to actor? -Well, you have to understand
that my father is an actuary. -Okay.
-He's a mathematician. He's -- like one of the few jobs
in the world that really uses calculus. You know?
So when I told him that I wanted to be an actor,
he felt the need to lay out
the actuarial tables on that succeeding.
You know, like, let's do the math on how many guys
in the Screen Actors Guild make more than $17,000 a year.
And making sure before I chose it,
and I decided I was okay with that.
-Okay, that's good. -The odds were not good,
but I was all right with that.
-And you got into it -- You got into it very young.
-Yes. -And now, I mean,
I've certainly have been aware of you --
-Is this conversation going to how old I am?
Is that where we're headed?
[ Laughter ]
-But I'm starting at the young part.
We're going to get there. -Okay, okay, okay.
-But you've come to the conclusion, I've heard,
that there are now parts that you have aged out of?
-Well, it's awful to realize that you're no longer
going to star in sports movies. -Yeah.
-You know, I used to always -- I used to always tell myself,
"I'll get in shape when I get that part," you know,
where I play a boxer. -Yeah, right.
-I'll get in shape when I'm playing an NBA guy.
And you're like, okay, that's not happening.
I even had the thought -- this was a couple years now,
but when Brett Favre retired, I was like, "Oh, you know what?
I like Brett Favre. I could really play him in a movie."
I'm like "No, I'm older than Brett Favre.
I'm older than guys who are retiring."
-Yeah, yeah. -That doesn't feel good.
But I am, you know -- I'm putting on my coach face soon.
-I think, I'm not sure about this,
but I once hosted an awards show,
the ESPYs, and I was making jokes
about how old Brett Favre was.
And he pointed out to me afterwards like, he's like,
"I'm like a year older than you."
[ Laughter ]
Like stop acting like such a hot shot.
-I know. I know. We think that --
We expect so much from our athletes.
-Yeah. -We really do.