Actor Nick Searcy joins Steven and Alex to discuss his career, including his time on the TV show Justified and his new film, "Gosnell's Movie," directed by Clint Eastwood. They also discuss how they first met, how they met, and how they became friends.
00:00:59.000Yeah, we were probably at some gathering or other, and I had seen some crazy video you'd done or something, and then I came up and said hello.
00:02:32.000Eastwood, I'm Nick Searcy, you know, and that was it.
00:02:34.000And I was so preoccupied with, like, thinking about, oh, no, I should have made a better speech because these jokes are terrible and I'm going to bomb in front of Clint Eastwood.
00:04:00.000Well, it's interesting you say that because people do talk, right, about the blacklisting.
00:04:05.000And I know coming up, you know, before I had my own platform that I had experienced it, but I do tend to believe that sometimes people blow their victimization out of proportion.
00:04:47.000But frankly, I don't care because I'm old and, you know.
00:04:54.000I'm fine You're not old, you're a character actor But what I'm saying is I'm kind of like reached the point where, you know, I can work with the people that I want to work with and I don't have to work with people who don't want to work with me anyway.
00:05:58.000Do you ever get into it with any of your co-stars and just, I mean, do you ever get into it as aggressively as you do on Twitter with the Hollywood libs on that set that ever happened?
00:06:08.000You know, a couple of times, it happened early on, like in the pilot.
00:06:14.000I got into it with, not in a terrible mean way, but you know, I won't say who it was, but one of the stars said something about, it was back when David Letterman made a joke about Sarah Palin's daughter getting sex with A-Rod or something,
00:07:30.000Yeah, well, what happened was in season four, you know, there was this moment where Rush Limbaugh sort of mentioned the show, mentioned Justified on the air, and he mentioned me by name.
00:07:41.000He said, you know, I was glad to see...
00:08:14.000And then a couple of weeks later, one of the writers saw me and he said, you know, we listened to your Rush Limbaugh interview in the writers room.
00:08:35.000But then in season five, they wrote a scene where my character is sitting in a truck on a stakeout, and he's listening to Limbaugh on the radio.
00:08:44.000And then, you know, I think it's the first time in television history that a character has actually listened to Limbaugh during a show and then not immediately gone and strangled a puppy or raped somebody or done something awful, you know?
00:08:56.000So it was just sort of like a normal guy listening to the radio.
00:09:20.000Because we know they lean to the left.
00:09:22.000Well, you know, I think it was, I think really their motivation was accuracy.
00:09:27.000I mean, they've spent a lot of time in Kentucky.
00:09:28.000They've talked to a lot of the marshals.
00:09:31.000And, you know, I mean, let's face it, it's like, let's just say there's a higher percentage of conservatives among U.S. marshals than there are among Hollywood liberals, you know, Hollywood's going movie business.
00:09:45.000So I think they were just sort of being accurate.
00:09:47.000And it seemed right to them that, you know, a person like Art Mullen, Would probably listen to Rush Limbaugh.
00:10:45.000Well, how it happened was that, you know, Ann and Phelan and I had been friends and I sort of was involved in the fundraising campaign a little bit and they asked me to recommend some directors and so I recommended a couple of people and they met with them and For whatever reason, they were too busy or they didn't want to do a movie this grim.
00:11:07.000They came back and said, do you know anybody else?
00:11:10.000I said, well, I directed a movie a few years ago.
00:11:38.000What's funny when you say talk with them, we'll get back to the grim subject matter in a second, but when you say talking with them, it usually means talking with Anne, because I love Philim, but on the phone, I can never understand a word he says on the phone.
00:12:44.000Yeah, I mean, especially at the beginning.
00:12:49.000I mean, you know, in the opening, when we started really working on the script and turning it into a shooting script and really visualizing it.
00:12:58.000Yeah, it's very difficult because it's a movie that you have.
00:13:02.000It's also a movie that you can't see everything that you're talking about because people just wouldn't be able to take it.
00:13:08.000So you kind of have to find a way to tell the story without it being a festival of gore or some sort of exploitative-looking horror film.
00:13:20.000And so we managed to make it, I think, into a really compelling crime drama and a courtroom drama, which is more about detecting him and arresting him and convicting him.
00:13:38.000I mean, of course, the darkness of what he did is part of the story, but it's not the main part of the story, let's say.
00:13:46.000Of course, for those listening or seeing this right now, Kermit Cosnell, of course, a famous abortion doctor who, and really, there's no other way to put it, a mass murderer by anybody's standards.
00:13:57.000So that's got to be tough to deal with.
00:13:59.000And like I said, I mean, sometimes people, and I know, I mean, don't you teach, don't you have acting classes?
00:14:05.000No, I have a public service acting school, which is just maybe – it's just video classes, which I offer free of charge as a public service to America.
00:14:20.000This is one thing, okay, while we're talking about Gosnell, let's get off because it gets too serious, but – One thing, though, when people, they can be so self-aggrandizing.
00:14:28.000I mean, we talk about wanting to be accurate, right?
00:14:30.000But then when you have actors, and I've had friends like this who are going, you know, I'm playing a cop, so I went on a ride-along.
00:14:36.000I'm going, you think that you know what it's like to be a cop because you went on a ride-along, not in Detroit, in Gross Point.
00:14:44.000Like, there is a certain level of self-importance, don't you think, that comes with, even though it's hard work, actors sometimes who make it seem a little bigger than it needs to be?
00:15:32.000And I left saying, wow, that's amazing.
00:15:34.000But what did bother me is when it came out, the story, right, of how he passed away, which is tragic, even more tragic that he left children behind.
00:15:43.000They go, well, it was just the role consumed him.
00:15:45.000He was the Joker for, you know, nine months after that.
00:16:22.000Well, don't say it out loud because I'm sure there are people who would love that address right now and send you some white powder in the mail.
00:16:29.000Oh, well, I get a lot of stuff in the mail.
00:17:00.000I mean, I've never gotten physical mail because I keep everything under wraps.
00:17:04.000Have you ever gotten something a little weird?
00:17:06.000I mean, because I would picture somebody who, sending an email anyone can do, but someone who takes the time to, you know, lick the envelope or, you know, stamp it with an old rubber seal as a screw loose.
00:17:17.000Yeah, you know, I've gotten some prank calls.
00:17:20.000You know, I've gotten some anonymous, like, envelopes with, like, you know, I hate you.
00:20:32.000There used to be a point where I feel like if anyone saw you, they would be so starstruck because you see anyone in a film, you know, it's, oh, oh my gosh, that guy's a film star.
00:20:40.000And now with Twitter, since they can directly insult you all day, do you feel like that's sort of taking away some of the mystique of Hollywood?
00:20:50.000And I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.
00:20:52.000I mean, you know, it's sort of like Hollywood has always sort of through the years sort of sold itself as this like, you know, look at these royal people who are movie stars and, you know, everybody needs to, you know, they treat them as something other than human, you know.
00:21:10.000And basically, you know, we're all just people.
00:21:13.000Even if I have more money than you, you know, it's I'm still just a person.
00:21:18.000And Tom Hanks has more money than me, and he's a person.
00:21:21.000And, you know, it's like acting is just a job.
00:21:23.000And it happens to be a job that if you get very lucky, it can pay you very, very well.
00:21:29.000But at the end of the day, it's like, you know, it's just a job.
00:22:21.000You know, when I went out in the entertainment industry, I remember when I went out to L.A., you know, and I had a few roles right away clip along.
00:22:30.000We can maybe talk about the actors' union.
00:22:32.000I wasn't allowed to step foot on set of ABC Family's Greek, even though I had been in a union in Canada since I was 12 years old.
00:22:38.000And it's supposed to be reciprocated with ACTRA as Canadian and SAG. And they said, well, it is, but it's like a several thousand dollar fee.
00:22:47.000I said, well, okay, just take it out of my check.
00:22:49.000You'll get that in the first episode here.
00:22:51.000I said, no, no, no, you have to pay it up front.
00:22:54.000So, my brother, fortunately enough, was one of the first YouTube partners.
00:22:58.000He made, like, he had a video getting 7 million plays and he lent me the money and I paid him right back as soon as I did the role.
00:23:03.000But when you think about it, that really is the entertainment industry and I think this sort of, it does stem from this narcissistic liberal mindset.
00:23:34.000Maybe it's just me, but I feel like that's a noticeable trend.
00:23:37.000I think it's very hard to start in this business as a child or a young adult.
00:23:45.000If you get a lot of success early on, it's all based on what you look like at a certain point in your life.
00:23:52.000If that look changes to the point that it's no longer marketable, And you still think you should be treated the way you were treated when you were royalty because you were on a television show.
00:26:16.000But then what happened was being fired at 14 and sink or swim and going out in auditions and the rejection, I thought, well, this isn't fair.
00:26:24.000Life isn't fair, and I'm just going to have to keep swinging the bat and be okay with failing.
00:26:28.000And I thought they shouldn't be able to take half of my money once I do make it.
00:26:35.000Literally, as a 13-year-old, I've been watching my Arthur checks.
00:26:38.000And I was amazed that not everyone in the entertainment industry felt that way going through those experiences.
00:26:47.000I don't see how they think that that's fair, that, you know, you struggle to try to build something, you starve, you know, you work a odd job trying to build a career, and then finally when you build one, they start going, oh, congratulations, I'll have half.
00:27:09.000And, you know, I'm not a huge fan, obviously, of unions in general and SAG. That was a real ordeal for me when I switched over from Canada to the United States.
00:27:17.000But same thing, Montreal had a big film industry like North Carolina.
00:27:22.000Or was it North Carolina or South Carolina, you said?
00:27:40.000And what's funny, I don't know if you've ever shot anything in Montreal, but it was a huge hotbed for film because you have old port Montreal, you can make it look like London, you can make it look like Paris, and then you can make it look like New York City.
00:27:51.000And then the unions came in and said, oh, there's this big industry, we can tax them more.
00:27:55.000And they tax themselves out of a huge industry.
00:28:04.000I mean, if you're Iron Man, you can shoot wherever you want, because no matter what the tax rules are or the union rules, it doesn't matter.
00:28:11.000But if you're a budget of $5 million or less...
00:28:16.000You just almost cannot shoot in California because of the tax benefits and the conditions in a right-to-work state.
00:28:25.000It makes your money go so much farther.
00:28:27.000And so the entire film business right now is in Atlanta.
00:28:31.000And if they're not in Atlanta, it's because Atlanta's too full and they're spilling over into other areas.
00:28:40.000Do you think there'll be a rebound effect?
00:28:43.000Do you think, kind of like with, I see now in my generation, with feminism and the anti-gun crowd and the political correctness, there's been a rejection of it.
00:30:09.000And I was guiding you there because I remember seeing a tweet to you, something like that, saying, oh, yeah, why don't you show us your black son again to prove you're not racist?
00:30:18.000And liberals say that like, oh, this is just, yeah, you're going to bring out your black friend or your black son to prove you're not racist.
00:30:24.000And just because they say that, it doesn't make it any less valid of an argument.
00:30:28.000Because the fact is, it is a Trump card.
00:31:32.000And the reason they have a big problem with it, the reason that they have so offended by the fact that I happen to be proud of my son Omar, is that they themselves can't imagine doing that.
00:31:45.000They can't imagine adopting a child of a different race, and they're projecting that onto me.
00:31:49.000And I just laugh at them and just make fun of them and throw it right back in their face.
00:31:59.000Okay, before we go, because that's a very interesting point.
00:32:02.000Why do you think it is that they can't imagine doing that?
00:32:07.000Well, I think for the most part, leftists, whether they know it or not, are very invested in dividing us by race or gender or religion or whatever way they can do to divide us up into tribes so that they can control us and pit one of us against another.
00:32:25.000I think they're very invested in that.
00:32:28.000And if we really had racial harmony where there really was, you know, the races got along fine and didn't resent each other, Liberals wouldn't have anything to do.
00:32:38.000They would never be able to get elected if that were true.
00:32:42.000I could not have said it perfectly, more perfectly myself.
00:32:46.000Sorry, I have to get that grammar correct because you are YesNickSearcy.
00:32:49.000You can follow him on Twitter at YesNickSearcy.
00:32:51.000And a photograph picture with grammar like that, I'll tell you.