00:00:00
Speaker 1: Everyone. This is Matt Willig, former nfler and current actor. You're listening to the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Welcome to the NFL Player Second Acts Podcast.
00:00:20
Speaker 3: I'm Peanutsman and this is my deacon as always, my guy rowand Harbor.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: Why are you smiling?
00:00:25
Speaker 3: Because I just love your enthusiasm quite alarming, excellently.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: You'd never got to bring it. No, No, I like it. I'm the traditional and with you for I just go right into it.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: I'm always I'm excited because this is a good version of panut today.
00:00:39
Speaker 2: So our guest is going to get a good show today, all right.
00:00:42
Speaker 3: Before we get to our guest, though, I want to thank all of our listeners, our followers that always tune in and pick us up, and remember you can always listen to us wherever you get your podcasts at WIS, Apple Podcasts or the iHeartRadio app.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: You know who's our guest today.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: We got a good one. He played fourteen years in the NFL, an offensive lineman. He's got a Super Bowl ring with the Rams. He played in another Super Bowl with the Panthers. We both played for the Panthers. You've seen him on TV shows, shows like The Young rock and movies like we were the Millers.
00:01:13
Speaker 2: Please welcome our guest, Matt Willig.
00:01:16
Speaker 4: Yay, guys, and he is not only that, but he is the big man in Hollywood. Literally, he's not a big manly, he's the big man.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: I'm one of them, at least.
00:01:31
Speaker 1: Only on TV. Guys. Let me say, man, real quick, it's proved to be here. I've been listening to this show and it rocks, and it's really an honor to be here. So thanks for having me.
00:01:41
Speaker 3: Man, thank you. You know, I didn't realize I was telling you outside. You know, you don't realize what you see or who you know on TV. And I was saying, you started looking like, oh, dude, god, not only I mean not he's a huge person, but he has the body of a football player. But he was a football player. And then, like I was telling you earlier, my wife is watching you in the as the Shield. Yeah, you know, I told her she was addicted to this movie of this show. And so it's been really cool to kind of like do a really big dive in into your career and how your life and all the avenues is taking you and what your acting career is like, what has been like, tell me one thing you're working on my pressure.
00:02:20
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, I'm me to say it's my acting career sort of emulates my NFL career. You know, people didn't know I played for so long. People don't know I've been an actor for so long. But I kind of just go along and I kind of grind my way through. But yeah, man, I was an undrafted free agent, you know. Yeah, was not supposed to make it in the NFL. Only reason I got in because I had a friend who was working at USC and who had some connections with the Jets and they said, hey, this guy has nothing else, will work hard for you. And that's sort of my my deal, and that's how my career started.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Well, you also said you were a d N at first.
00:02:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then you switched over offensivelive put on thirty forty pounds.
00:02:58
Speaker 1: That's a crazy story too. You got a coach coming to me one day after you know, we're in two days. Yeah, I'm getting abused that when it was days, it was the.
00:03:08
Speaker 2: Old school, six.
00:03:10
Speaker 1: Weeks in a row, six weeks of two days. Brutal coach came to me one day and said, hey, we want to work out some drills with you, and and two days later I had the head coach say, hey, we're going to send you home. We're going to bring you back as an offensive lineman on the practice squad and see how it goes. Fourteen years. Not bad, that's awesome.
00:03:29
Speaker 2: All right.
00:03:30
Speaker 3: I want to I want to talk to you about your closeness to win in the Super Bowl before you actually won the Super Bowl. Okay, all right, So and I had to we had to look this up a little bit. So in nineteen ninety seven you were in it. You played for the Falcons, yes, and you actually lost to the Packers.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: And they went to the Super Bowl. Correct, all right.
00:03:48
Speaker 3: Then the nineteen ninety eight, the following year, you're with the Packers and then they lost to the Falcons to go to Super Bowl.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: When they're doing the show, I.
00:03:56
Speaker 1: Actually lost to the forty nine ers. Oh yeah, okay, forty end up playing the Falcons. Falcons up going to the Super Bowl.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: Yes, I was rooting against you because not.
00:04:06
Speaker 1: Too many people know that. So that's pretty that's pretty good. Good.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: But we're connecting this whole all the dots here.
00:04:11
Speaker 3: Then in ninety nine, you actually won the Super Bowl, so you were close all these years, you finally win it, then you're around a little bit, and all of a sudden you get there again with the Panthers in two thousand and three, I was in my college dorm or actually my college.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: Apartment at the time. We had a little bit of money than you guys. Yeah, I was actually in the league. Yeah, oh yeah, well whatever.
00:04:32
Speaker 5: Him, Yes, yes, don't cry.
00:04:42
Speaker 2: I felt a little bit about that.
00:04:45
Speaker 1: Some of us color our hair so much, don't Yeah.
00:04:48
Speaker 3: Right, correct, But so talk about that the experience of being that close, always sniffing the Super Bowl, finally getting there, and then all of a sudden winning it, and then getting there again it maybe and then losing it.
00:05:00
Speaker 1: You know, listen, as you guys know, man, just being in the league is a privilege sometimes and and you know how hard guys work and don't get there, don't work, and so you know, my my main focus was just staying in the league, staying active. But yeah, there were some times where I'm like, man, this maybe this is my sort of curse, you know, in the league. I'm gonna stay in the league, but I'm always going to be that you know that also kind of just getting close but never getting there, So it was rough. It was especially the one where I was with the Packers and they had been to a couple of bulls in a row. Yeah, you know, and then I thought, Okay, I'm making this nice jump here. Well I'm gonna get on a team that's going to be back. And then we lose, and then the Falcons, you know who we saw a building kind of progress going on, but you know, I didn't think they were going to get and then the dirty birds freaking all the way. Yeah. But listen, man, it's win or lose. You know. To me, the super Bowl wasn't the ultimate. I was just worried about kind of making sure that I was part of the team and contributing things like that. Man, I didn't really have those Super Bowl aspirations. It was really just about kind of, let's i'll be honest, you know, making money for me and my family and kind of keeping that thing going because again, every year as a free agent, I had to prove myself over and over and over again. You know, my first five years in the league, I had five different head coaches. So when you're that free agent guy, there's one coach that kind of loves you and kind of pulls on and say yeah, you're my guy, and then he's out of there, and next thing you know, you got another coach who wants to know you, don't know you, and he wants to he wants the first round, or he wants the guy who's you know, who's touted. So that was kind of my thing. So you know, I was I was just trying to stay afloat.
00:06:43
Speaker 3: I gotta be honest, though, I've never heard anybody say that that played in the NFL, that the Super Bowl was never.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: Like the ultimate.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Yea.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: Really, I've never heard anybody say that.
00:06:54
Speaker 1: That's what makes me stupid.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: Or unique unique?
00:07:00
Speaker 1: Yea. Go, and she was at the NFL career and then she was an acting career after that.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: So how proud are you too? I mean, well, let's listen. You went to USC, Yeah, you know, a very franchised organization college prominent, A prominent, I mean, just a great school. You go there, good career, and then you go undrafted fourteen years in the NFL playing a different position than what you didn't play, So how tell us, like, how proud are you just from from having that long of a career without being drafted?
00:07:40
Speaker 1: Your work, everything thank you, man, I appreciate That's that's kind of where my pride comes from. That's that's that's the most for me. You know, like I said, I wasn't supposed to make it. You know. I played with guys like Junior Sea, Mark Carrier, you know, guys have played a long time and had were touted from day one. You know, I go back and meet meet my guys from SC and there and they just, you know, they still can't believe it all these years later. Like that, I was the guy. I was the guy who went that long. But that was kind of where the pride was. You know. For me. I got a couple of you know, inner mantras that I kind of go through, and one of them just why not me, you know, and why why can't I be that guy? You know, whether it's like I said, the acting or the NFL. But yeah, that was a huge source of pride that I was able to kind of put myself in a place where, especially after year six seven eight, I was known as a guy who could come in, learn the system right away, be a smart enough guy to kind of play a couple of different positions and be valuable to a team, whether it was starting or not. You know, I started only so many games under one hundred, but I probably doubled that in games I played three quarters or more because I could come in and back up like that.
00:08:51
Speaker 2: And so I think your starts were like forty six or forty eight.
00:08:54
Speaker 1: Man I said I was closer to one hundred. What the hell? No, you're right, okay, whatever.
00:08:58
Speaker 3: Shotowing No, but he played in like one hundred and sixty, one hundred and seventy something.
00:09:04
Speaker 1: So it's like, like I said, yeah, I doubled that in probably games I played at least a half or more, you know, So when you think of it that way, I was valuable in much more ways than just being that starter guy. And so yeah, that was a huge source of pride for me that I was able to do it and do it well for for.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: A long time talking about pride, and this is kind of off the subject and going back a little bit, I read that you know, you were standing by Dick Vermill when London.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Fletcher tackles Kevin Dison.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: Yes, right, boom, you win the game, emotional, everybody's happy, you celebrating, and then you're in Carolina. I'd like to know maybe where were you standing when all of a sudden, Tom Brady drives him all the way down.
00:09:43
Speaker 2: And now looking back.
00:09:44
Speaker 3: On it, tom Brady when he did that then was not tom Brady that we know And sit here and I'm looking at right here today, does it give you any type of emotion knowing that Tom Brady has become who he's become, and like maybe you're like, you know what it was just we were just in the and we had no idea.
00:10:01
Speaker 1: Well, it was the beginning of his legacy, you know, it really was. And that was a heartbreaking loss, man, because I tell you what you know, as you guys know, when you the further you get and and when you when you have those kind of teams that get to the super Bowl and teams that do well no matter what, you have this camaraderie and this sort of closeness for the team that you that you reach and that year came out of nowhere. First game, Rodney Peat gets hurt. Who's our starter? Jake Delum comes in sort of the same feeling with the Rams, you know, where Kurt Warner came in. So the expectations were low and to have those kind of seasons were so high that that that, But I remember I was actually on the field goal block team when when their kicker, Terry thank You, kicked the winning kick. There's a picture of me putting my hand up with the ball going right over it as he's kicking the winning field goal. So, you know, heartbreak is the word that I think of. But again, yeah, to look back on it and say, well, that was really the beginning of the staple of that legacy of Toel Brady, Man of the Goat. So it's pretty nuts.
00:11:10
Speaker 3: So I got thirteen, you got eleven.
00:11:14
Speaker 2: Fourteen.
00:11:15
Speaker 3: I know for me, my body started to I guess shut down on trema acio my last year. So at that point in time, I knew it was time to retire. What point in your career did you know it was time to walk away from the game.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: I had some knee injuries that were not major, but they were kind of they were adding up, you know, I was bone on bone on both of them, and things where I just couldn't you know, there's an alignment. If you can't bend your knees and get low, especially when you're six eight, Yeah, there's a problem. So I think it was sort of the last year when I was spending so much time in the training room, and you guys know how that goes. You know, at the end, you're just spending so much effort just trying to get out to practice sometimes and you know, I don't know about you guys, but even you know, year fifteen, I was thinking, man, I hope someone calls. You know. I wasn't sure what what what what my status would be, but I would say right around year twelve, I was kind of doing nothing, just doing a simple little drill sort of blew my meniscus and tore it, you know. And so that was when I kind of started to really kind of wonder how many more years I got left?
00:12:20
Speaker 2: And you still squeaked out another and I.
00:12:22
Speaker 1: Still squeaked out another two, and I'm feeling it, and I'm feeling it.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: You don't look like it.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: You walked in right, you ever crossed your leg. A lot of people can't do that, even do that. You can't do that.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: I know.
00:12:34
Speaker 1: Well, flexibility was a big thing for me too, clearly.
00:12:38
Speaker 3: So tell me this though you were doing some TV and early you know, interviewing and like analysts work when you were playing.
00:12:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I started out. I started out. I hate the interrupt you, but.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: No, no, it's fine. I just want to know. Was that always part of the plan? Did you know?
00:12:55
Speaker 1: It was not?
00:12:56
Speaker 2: It was not because it led to acting.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: I'll start with when I in my career, I was thinking, you know, football analyst, football guy, or or let's try the acting. But before that even started, Yeah, I was hosting radio and TV shows. You know, we all know we get those. Back then it was radio. You know, you do radio shows like with the Lineman kind of thing, Matt Willie with you know, with the old Line kind of stuff. And I started doing that, then started hosting and being part of the forty nine ers weekly stuff, you know, things like that, where I just got comfortable being in front of the camera and had a little bit of a I don't know a personality.
00:13:30
Speaker 2: You do have a person out. You have a good person out.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: Thank you, brother, I appreciate you. But yeah, that's how it started. And then had a friend who had an agent in the business who dealt with a lot of ex athletes, and so right around year in fact, it was just after we had won the Super Bowl with the Rams, I ended up doing a commercial so I got I got into the acting thing, and I booked my first commercial.
00:13:54
Speaker 2: What was the commercial?
00:13:55
Speaker 1: It was the commercial with Terrell Davis and Kurt Warner for Campbells soup and I played it, you know, I played an offensive lineman for the Rams Easy Giver. But so I was doing that, you know, my last three or four years in the NFL. I was doing it every off season. I'd go and I'd do three or four commercials, you know, and started having instant success. And so that's when I kind of thought, you know, let's give this a shot and see what happens. So that's kind of how it started.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: Did you get any free soup after the commercial?
00:14:25
Speaker 1: They didn't tried you after about seven hours of its city of it sitting around.
00:14:32
Speaker 3: That's the best thing about it, man, I'd have got all the free soup I wanted. So was it hard getting into the like the acting bug? Like what made you want to get into acting itself?
00:14:40
Speaker 2: Though?
00:14:41
Speaker 3: Like I know, we do radio, we do TV, that's kind of the typical thing for us to do when we retire, and.
00:14:45
Speaker 2: Commercial playing offensive linement that's not really different.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I'm curious, like how did you get into like that? What was that first big role like for you to get into character makeup, crying not crying emotional.
00:14:59
Speaker 1: I'm the fifth of six boys, and I was always looking for attention. That's kind of where it starts.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:15:05
Speaker 1: You know, when you're this big, you're always just kind of you take on that personality of kind of being the jokester guy. And I was that guy. I was that guy in the NFL. I was the guy who kept things loose, kind of always had that sort of goofy personality. And that's kind of how it started. I got with an acting coach and worked for first couple of years just to see where I was at. Yeah, and Stuart Robinson, I'll never forget him. He again. He dealt a lot of ex athletes and he told me right away. He's like, man, he goes, you've got something, You've got it. You have a kind of a fearless attitude about things where you have these instincts, and a lot of times instincts will carry you for a while, you know what I mean. If you just kind of think you know what you're talking about, you can take it till you make it. Yeah, and I did that, I'm telling you. And I was lucky enough to have some good roles and get some good things where they fit. Now again, being my heights man, there's only certain roles that you're good for, right, you know, I'm not going to play the leading guy. I'm not going to So it was a lot of bad guys. It was a lot of things that to me seemed easy. You know, it's only when you get into the heavy dialogue and things like that where you got to really show emotion, where where you decide whether or not you know you got what it takes. And again it's little steps man, as you guys know, you know, you take these little steps climbing that ladder to figure out how far you can go. And so I was doing that and it was working for me.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: So by you being so high at a man of your stature, being six eighty six y nine, and you can only play so many roles, do you is that a little discouraging you being Was it called type casting? Yeah?
00:16:41
Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to be the bad guy all the time. I want to be the lover, not the fire specifically the.
00:16:45
Speaker 1: Bad guy for sure. You know. I like playing guys who are a little different and have some emotion, and that was cool to kind of get to a place where I was playing some of those guys. But it takes time. You know, Hollywood loves the type cast. It's been said for years and years and years, and it's true because they like you the way you fit, you know, and it's only when you do. I was able to do a couple of independent things, you know, things that were lower budget where you can kind of get out and do your own thing, where you kind of you put that on a reel, you know, you show other people things like that where where they finally start to go, Okay, He's got some chops. It's been one of the coolest things about acting has been some of the little responses from people that I that I admire or respect, who have said, you know, Matt's got some chops. Matt's got some acting ability. And for a guy who kind of came up the way I did just being an act a ball player, that means a lot to me too.
00:17:40
Speaker 3: So I've done one movie in my entire life, and I did I did this. I did The Sharknado. May the Fourth be.
00:17:46
Speaker 1: Witchy that the respect level just bounce, man.
00:17:53
Speaker 3: I saw, Yeah, I had like one line and I have no design to be an actor whatsoever. But the dude reached out and I was like, well, yeah, whatever, I'll do it. Didn't read the script till I got there, Like, I totally was not prepared. Wish I had had an acting coach or whatever. But anyway, I guess my question is what does an acting coach do? Like, what could an acting coach teach you? Like, what do you do? I know, football drills, I do certain drills to get me in my feet, right hand drive, whatever, Like what do you do as an acting coach?
00:18:25
Speaker 1: I'll give you a great example early on, because I'm sort of a handsy guy who likes to kind of talk like this. Sometimes I was doing that as an actor and he would say, plant your feet and stop moving, be still, And that was one of the earliest lessons I learned, was to be still where you are and you don't realize how much you kind of move around and do things, especially if i'm you know, you're someone like me who did until you kind of realize what you're doing and stop doing it or start doing something like that, then you know that's that's some of the real keys. It's the minimalization of things that you do. You know, just eye movement as opposed to shaking your head and making a face or things like that that really make the difference between kind of being that's just a guy who does it sometimes, or a guy who can kind of elevate himself into that next level of acting, which again, man, if there's eighty levels of acting ability, I'm on you know, the top, I'm on the first ten. You know, I got so much further to go. But again, those are some of the things that you do. It's amazing to be able to see yourself. Just like when we're when we're balling, you know, you think you're doing something right, and then you watch tape or film and you go, I didn't realize I did that. Yeah, you know, and it kind of takes film sometimes to be able to see what you're doing wrong. Right. It's the same with acting. You know, you're able to see the little things that you can kind of change moving forward. And again, like I said early on, man, being just being still and being kind of planted where you are it was a huge thing.
00:20:04
Speaker 3: So I mean that's got to be huge for you, you know, especially with your stature, right, you can already be a little bit overbearing compared to probably your your co actors.
00:20:13
Speaker 2: Besides you, You're going to be way bigger.
00:20:14
Speaker 3: We don't need you flailing arms, right, this it takes away from what you're actually saying. Is that where they were trying to give you that that's one of the biggest advices for you. I'm sure, and somebody may tell me something completely different, but we all have to accept it.
00:20:27
Speaker 2: I really love that part of it. The other part, what I.
00:20:30
Speaker 3: Really want to know is what's the difference between like a low budget, like independent independent film like budget like be able to tell the average person I've never been on the set, like break that down from me, like one of the biggest differences because like I think I know, but I don't know it all.
00:20:48
Speaker 1: To say all these things with and being delicate, I don't want to offend anybody out there and then they don't know. Yeah, right, is it to be?
00:20:55
Speaker 2: Is it like to be low budget?
00:20:57
Speaker 1: It's Here's what it is. Number one. It's obviously money. Money that they invest in actors, that they invest in, sets, that they invest in the ability to shoot somewhere a lot of times, just you know, being able to pay for a spot to shoot is important, you know, So all those things. It's it's across the board. I would say, number one, the level of acting is you know, the actor that you're going to get on a higher budget obviously is something. But again sometimes when you get with the right crew I did. I did a movie called The Employer with Malcolm McDowell in a cast of about four or five people. Where very low budget, but you knew right away coming in these are high level actors that are just kind of doing you know. And I'll say another thing is script. The script, Well, when you get a good script that you know it's it's going to be something. A lot of times when you get in those lower budgets just a little suspect and lacks a little bit, you know. And but a lot of times you have the ability to play with that script a little bit, yeah, to kind of to kind of to make things right, or you can see the writings not good and things like that. It's like I said, it's it's hard to answer because, like I said, across the board, it's just always a little bit lower that the lower level of of of everything.
00:22:24
Speaker 3: So I know a couple like I don't know how far a few years back, though you were you were at a gym you were was it an Equinox gym? And you're working out and you you happen to run into the rock and you guys have this brief moment conversation and you asked him for some advice because you were trying.
00:22:41
Speaker 2: To get into the acting.
00:22:43
Speaker 3: What was that advice and how has that helped you with your career thus far?
00:22:47
Speaker 1: It was interesting because it was very specific. I didn't being fully aware of not overstepping your bounds with with someone like that, you know, it's kind of important. So we were working out for a couple of weeks and and we we'd just do some sets together, nothing big. And I had a movie coming out called Year One, which was kind of my first big movie that I had done Michael Sarah Jack Black. Yeah, and there was some instances I wasn't invited to the New York premiere, and so it was very specific about, hey man, what do you think what angle should I take in sort of putting myself in there, you know, and forcing myself in there and looking back at it now, Dwayne was the perfect guy because Dwayne has forced himself into a lot of things, you know, to make himself you know, one of the greatest that we have today. And he was very honest about things and kind of gave me that sort of advice that was, you know, push your way through, man, don't don't say no, don't let know be an answer, don't let them tell you you can't go somewhere, things like that. And so that was cool. You know, it was cool just to have that and kind of keep it light and simple. And he was very cool about it. And he ended up kind of very soon after that, kind of getting his own gym and you know, kind of going private and uh, I'd see him from time to time where he would come up and give me some love and say now and one day, man, we'll work together one day and to kind of come full circle and have it be with Young Rock and have it be his story, uh, and play a guy that he considered basically his uncle. You know, he used to call him uncle Andrea as a kid. So that's kind of kind of a neat, little full circle moment.
00:24:29
Speaker 3: So I just want to briefly talk about your role in Young Rock when you when you play Andre the Giants. For for those listening and watching Andre the Giant, it was about was he seven seven feet tall.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: He weighed about five.
00:24:46
Speaker 3: I mean every wrestler, they get taller every time they announce their names.
00:24:51
Speaker 1: It was one of them.
00:24:54
Speaker 3: I remember watching him as a kid, and uh, I remember one HAULK Hogan, but the body was my ever lasting mine at like six years old, that moment right there, haul Cogan, I was like, yo, he is a truth, he is the deal. Now you don't look like you four hundred and fifty pounds. What all did you have to do? What did your body have to do to become that player? And I like to hear too, you I like the little curls.
00:25:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't even my hair.
00:25:26
Speaker 1: And so that was that's the transformation I needed to make, you know, when I when I booked it, it was funny because they never even said to me, hey, we want you to gain weight or we want you to kind of get into that sort of mode that would look like andre. They booked me at, you know, basically kind of what I weigh now, maybe even a little less. I'm about three and I'm like two ninety five, and I was probably a little bit less. But I took upon myself to gain thirty pounds for the first year, and you know it was it was just about being soft and having that Andre look after that it was you know, it's facial mannerisms. It's things like that that you got to really look at. I studied everything that he did, and then once you put that wig and the different outfits on, it sort of transforms you. But yeah, the weight was the biggest thing because I really wanted to feel that, and you know, when you're on camera, everything adds, and so being three hundred and thirty pounds six ' eight it transforms into seven foot four hundred and fifty, you know really, So yeah, it was a grueling grind to kind of keep that weight on where everybody else was. All the other wrestlers were losing weight and trying to look as good as they could, you know, getting them n abs going. I was like, hey, let's go and have some lunch, you know, let's go eat another burger. And so that was kind of funny, but it was I took it really seriously, you know, because I didn't want to. This guy is iconic. The is iconic even if you don't know wrestling, you know, Princess Bride, the movie he did, and so there was a there was a great responsibility honestly to kind of do it right, kind of have a lot of respect for it. You know, even though it's a show where they're going to dramatize things and kind of make make some stuff up and to make it a show, it was really important kind of for me to make it believable, respectful, you know, and and make it so that people who knew Andre back in the day. That was one of the biggest things that I had since sources of pride. You know, as the show was going on, was people were coming to me who knew Andre and saying, man, kind of uncanny. You know, some of the things that you're doing remind me of Andre, and so a lot of respect for that.
00:27:43
Speaker 3: So I got one question for you before we move on to the next one is all right, so when you're saying you're watching film on Andre Andrea giant, like, how much film do you watch? I know, when we say watch film, we watch like football, but like, how much film do you really watch?
00:27:56
Speaker 1: I watched every every interview Andre did at least twenty twenty five times, and there wasn't that many. There were different points in his life where he spoke less good English. Yeah right, you know, then he started to learn a little more. Uh then he became heavier, even heavier when he was older, and he kind of had you and the more. My biggest thing was I would oh, you almost did it. I know, I know what I said, the tongue want you dead in the tongue. You know, you make the tongue as big as you can, so you with everything is got Oh yeah, So that's kind of where I started that and it was, uh yeah, that was kind of where it started. And then again just to kind of make a point when I was when I came in and I had so much confidence going back to that that I was that I could do it. I was almost and I don't want to be respect disrespectful to the executive producers, but they let me do some things. You know, they said, hey, we trust you enough to where if you want to make these choices or these things. You know, sometimes I would say, hey, Andre wouldn't wear this, you know, or Andre wouldn't have done this. The first season, you go back to that WrestleMania three incident with Hulkgan. They wanted me to wear that black singlet, which he's very famous for, but he never wore it. Early on he only wore kind of at a certain point in his career. They wanted me to wear it the first season, and I kind of said, hey, Andre wouldn't have worn this before the time, and they respected me enough to say, okay, we get it, you know, and they would change it up little things like that. That kind of along the way allowed me to kind of have some real good say over the character, which was really cool.
00:29:38
Speaker 2: And you wouldn't know that unless you watched in.
00:29:41
Speaker 3: Study the film. That's so important. Yeah, My other thing is how does that make you feel? Do you feel like closer to the rock because it's it's really like a part of his story, a part of his life. Do you feel closer in that way knowing that he was kind of that person that kind of gave you confidence in this lane, right like because we all got to have somebody to believe in us or teller's at some point like man, like you can do this, it's okay, to believe that it's okay. And how does that maybe emotionally take you in a place or or have you ever just wrapped your head around all of that?
00:30:15
Speaker 1: You know, I have, And it's a trip because I look back on even the first day that I auditioned for Andre the Giant for it, and knowing that it was Dwayne's story and knowing that it was you know that he was going to be looking at that and seeing my audition and stuff, and there was a sense of kind of calmness about it. There was a sense of he knows me, He's going to know more about me. Yeah, and I kind of had that little confidence about, yeah, let's do this. I ended up talking to to the executive producer of the show runner of the show, Nanatchka Khan, and she was there for my audition, and she told me later on, you know, when I walked in with this confidence, they almost knew instantly that I was.
00:31:00
Speaker 2: No.
00:31:00
Speaker 1: You don't get me wrong. I needed to fit the bill physically, and I came in speaking French, which threw them for a loop. They actually asked me if I knew French fluently, But yeah, there's no say I used that sort of that, you know, looking back on that same feeling that he gave me, I used that on my audition and and knew instantly, and sure enough they told me later on that they do right away that I was going to be there.
00:31:25
Speaker 2: Andre Number one French is a beautiful language. How do you know French?
00:31:28
Speaker 3: You can't just you can't just drop that, Yeah, I don't know French.
00:31:34
Speaker 1: I was able to learn a couple of lines in the dialogue that they had and speak it in a way. That's another thing that I sort of have the ability to do, is is I have the ability to to give accents. I can learn them pretty quickly. And I've been able to play some characters Russian or kind of an Eastern European or in this case having a French accent. And don't get it wrong, I got with a French dialect coach and she helped me later on. But I was able to fake it just enough that audition and do it well where they was like, damn, you can speak French to you like I will, I will what I need to you know? So so yeah.
00:32:17
Speaker 2: Do you think you mimic? How you hear it?
00:32:19
Speaker 3: Because Trevor Nor he he's real big into traveling and learning on the languages, right, and he goes the biggest difference with learning language is why it's easier for kids to learn language, because kids they don't mind making a fool of themselves because they can just mimic it. So I'm not saying I'm an expert at mimicking people, but when I imitate or if I'm telling a joke or whatever, I kind of mimic what I hear. So do you think that's kind of what?
00:32:43
Speaker 1: That's where it starts. And with every language that you try to mimic or have an accent with, there's always four or five key things or key words that you'll hear from either someone with a French accent or someone with an Irish accent, or someone with an Eastern European accent that you recognize. You know that you can go, Okay, that sounds legit because those are words they would change or not be able to change. You know, they wouldn't use certain vowels, stuff like that. You know, as trivial as it sounds, those are the things that kind of are important. And again going back to having the skills as a as a next level actor, those are the things you kind of do.
00:33:22
Speaker 3: I'm making all the connections here because you were like a young kid. You said, like making fun of myself. This is kind of like being the big guy and just trying to make it easy on everybody. Pi's like No, that's how you actually learn how to make and actually sound like other languages as well. That's you know, you're putting all these things to put yourself out there. Got to be able to put yourself out there.
00:33:42
Speaker 1: You can look at every comedian and they have the ability to do that. Yes, speaking seventeen different you know sort of characters or whatever. It's that same mentality. It's that same kind of Again I said, I was the fifth of six boys. You know, you're always looking for attention. Yeah, and so it's those kinds of things that I always sort of used and had at my disposal to kind of you know, used to lighten situations or whatever, you know, kind of make myself in a in a relationship with somebody.
00:34:12
Speaker 2: We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back. I want to ask you about what it was like when.
00:34:19
Speaker 3: When you were playing in playing the role in the movie Concussion.
00:34:24
Speaker 2: It was were you ever?
00:34:26
Speaker 3: It was a very deep dive and I was actually nervous as a football player to watch the movie. I just used to stay away from it. I still have not watched it because you have not. No, I just I just kind of stayed away from it because I was always so nervous, like, is it going to be insight into my own life? I should probably be okay to do it now because I've been retired for six years and I work on TV. I don't have any injuries mentally or brain injuries.
00:34:50
Speaker 1: That I know of.
00:34:51
Speaker 2: So but enough about me, But back to you. Were you ever emotionally drained?
00:34:57
Speaker 3: How did this movie affect you internally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually playing the role that you had to play, and also maybe talk about the preparation going into it.
00:35:08
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, I know all those things. Man. I again talking about taking a role seriously and really kind of having in connection with it. So I played Justin Strelzik, who was a former NFL lineman who ended up taking his life, many believe because of CTE. I met with his widow. That was the first thing I wanted to do, and even before that, got in touch with her where she sent me a box full of his drawings, his writings, his music. He was a real eclectic guy where he played the guitar and kinda he wrote. He wanted to be an actor, honestly, and so there was all these things that where he would write, and so she sent me a whole bunch of stuff. So getting into that part of it was really huge, kind of getting into a mindset of that downward spiral that one would go through, because like you, I'm lucky enough, and I think it's part of what we why we do this. I think keeping the brain active and motivated is a huge factor. So that was it. And then when I got out to Pittsburgh, we shot in Pittsburgh, met with the widow and his family. It's funny because they have a son named Justin, who was born on the same day I was born. They ended up. I said I was going to ride a motorcycle, which he rode. I said, is there any way to get his motorcycle? His son had his motorcycle that he rode, and so I learned how to ride because I hadn't never I had ridden, but he had a big hat. He had a big Harley, and so I needed some practice. Anyways, learn learned how to do that. And it was all these little things that I'm telling you, like just like I'm talking about before, the little things that kind of make and put yourself into a position where you're ready to rock when it comes time. My scenes were emotional, the actors that played his widow or his wife at the time. We cried for ten hours doing a scene just to stay in that moment, that place where you know, there's a scene where I get violent and ended up leaving, and I remember it distinctly between scenes us holding hands, there's two actors who had just met a couple of days ago holding hands, trying to hold back tears because of this of the seriousness, severity, the the you know, the the climactic sort of heat that was going on on scene. I ended up choking her in a scene which it wasn't in the in the script, which scared the hell out of her, scared me because the director wanted me to do it, so again going back, kind of cutting, cutting through. Uh. It was those things kind of that that put me in that in that space to kind of maybe feel where what he might have been feeling. But the whole concept of CT and things like that kind of again, you walk in with this idea that I need to kind of take take this serious as because I'm part of it. Yeah, I could be living this right right. He knows, you know, I've known guys. I played with Junior s, I roomed with junior Seal, another linebacker Scott Ross who was a big time player at S see my Times. He ended up taking his life and they found CT. So I've been around it, I've seen it, and so yeah, man, it was. It was a heavy deal and I had so much again going back to even like with andre, I had so much pride kind of getting involved in it and being a part of it. And uh so it was. It was pretty cool, all right.
00:38:45
Speaker 3: Tell me this though, one last thing to finish that up. How do you get back out of playing such a serious role where you've been involved with the family, you've met with the widow, you ride the bike, you see all these things so intimate, Like you're saying, you whole hands crying. Yeah, such a serious moment of it. How do you get back out of that? And like, okay, drugs an alcohol? Yeah, can I say that?
00:39:07
Speaker 2: I mean it, I mean I appreciate that.
00:39:10
Speaker 1: No again, I think to me, going back to CT real quick, I think that part of the issue with a lot of guys, this is just my opinion only, is that they have pre existing conditions. I think that a lot of them have these dual personalities. They're ups and their downs. Are really high. So that kind of comes with the territory. I've always been one who has always sort of looked at things from the comical side of things.
00:39:37
Speaker 4: M h.
00:39:38
Speaker 1: So I kind of that for me is a great way to pull back is to have some comedy with things and kind of keep things light. And again, I was there for maybe a couple of weeks while I was shooting and then sort of taking yourself out of that situation. I had a huge beard that was justin's. You know that I that I that I grew, shaved that off, you know, you just changed the whole personas There's all sorts of things like that that I would do that It would put me back into the Matt Willig mode, you know, or you go home and you know, slapping some kids around. I'm joking, of course, but being a parent, you know, we'll let you take you out of that and all sorts of things like that to kind of put you back where you need to be.
00:40:16
Speaker 3: Okay, good, So we're gonna flip it. We're gonna get into a couple of fun questions. Now me, I'm a big movie guy. I love movies, seeing a ton of movies. I probably go to movie about myself. I go all the time, I'm the same guy.
00:40:26
Speaker 2: So we're the Millers. Yes, hilarious.
00:40:29
Speaker 3: I probably watched it a month ago and just by chance, now we meet you and we're doing this show. There's a remember his daughter's in here, Nah, she's This is a very good you could watch.
00:40:40
Speaker 2: Your kids can watch this. I've seen the movie. I know exactly where you're going. I know who he played. So there's a there's a strip te scene.
00:40:48
Speaker 3: In that part when you guys are in that warehouse or whatever and they get called the cartel and all that.
00:40:53
Speaker 2: So was she supposed to strip tease with you or did they cut that out twenty minutes before shooting the scene? Is what I yes, was told twenty minutes of what I've read twenty minutes before the scene. Jennifer Amiston cancer. Well, she don't know if she can.
00:41:09
Speaker 1: She didn't cancel. What happened was in the script. It's that she comes over to my character and dances all over me. And that was my first day of shooting. So I'm there in the in the scene, so it was kind of it was easy. But yeah, that was a funny little moment of going, Man, I almost had almost had Jennifer Aniston give me a lap dance.
00:41:30
Speaker 2: I guess I.
00:41:34
Speaker 1: Could have done anything got fired. I would have been happy. That was the fun. By the way, that was a fun movie to shoot, fun movie.
00:41:39
Speaker 2: It was a fun movie to watch. It's got the edits.
00:41:47
Speaker 1: That's it's funnyuse when people see that, that's like people have known me forever, kind of go, that's the Matt Willie right, No, you know the guy kind of tickling somebody at the end there. Yeah, that's a lot of fun.
00:41:59
Speaker 2: What is what's been your favorite role that you've ever done? Been and over sixty films and what sixty films?
00:42:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot, I would say, Andre just just for the year fact that it's it was really close to my heart kind of doing that and and and kind of do it well and get some acclaim for it. Was was pretty cool.
00:42:21
Speaker 2: Now, were you a wrestling fan growing up? Did you ever watch anything it was?
00:42:24
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I wasn't a huge wrest I know, I know, I know.
00:42:27
Speaker 2: Six boys, six boys.
00:42:28
Speaker 1: We would wrestle as big.
00:42:30
Speaker 2: As you are, Like they're not the rest. No driving in the house.
00:42:34
Speaker 1: No, never had never been to a show, didn't know any of that. You know, I knew characters and things, but I was never a huge fan.
00:42:41
Speaker 2: Your brother never put you in the Boston craft.
00:42:45
Speaker 1: You just slapped and I was playing one of maybe ten other guys in the in the in the shot. But he took the time to kind of give me some one on one and that he did not disappoint.
00:42:57
Speaker 6: Man.
00:42:57
Speaker 1: He was as cool as I thought he was. And and so that was really that was a big.
00:43:01
Speaker 2: One, all right.
00:43:02
Speaker 3: And now I got to go off script now because you just said something that now I have to know. Okay, you're talking about filming in Asia? All right, where is the coolest place you've ever filmed?
00:43:12
Speaker 2: Well?
00:43:12
Speaker 1: The funny thing, we shot that here in the States, but it only showed over you know a lot of times. Yeah, these big time actors will get paid a ton of money to kind of do this. I think it was for like a petroleum company or gas company. It was the random something random. But they get paid a ton of money to shoot these commercials that will never be shown in the States. Where's the coolest place I'm shot? Where have I been? God Lord? I would say year one. This is a is another weird answer. Year one we shot in a place called White Sands, New Mexico.
00:43:44
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I've been there. I've driven through there before.
00:43:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a truck you're talking about literally White Sands for miles. I remember. Because I'm a golfer, I ended up pulling out golf clubs. I'm just like a cave man. I'm pulling out golf clubs and hitting all was like as far as I can. Yeah, So that was one of the cool places.
00:44:03
Speaker 3: We will be best friends because I'm a golfer too.
00:44:08
Speaker 1: I just played Tory Pine the other day for the first time in about fifteen years, and I had to shoot had a blast shot. In the eighties, both in relationship wise. You know, my parents they were They were the type of parents that never really showed. They didn't fight in front of us, which to me was a cool thing. I knew they would be mad at each other. I knew they had our arguments and fights. He just took the time to kind of go, hey, we're not going to put this out there for for our kids. For me, that was cool. The grind. They showed me how to grind. My dad was a was a cop and uh and worked a couple of jobs outside of that. To raise six boys. He was being and angry because that's how he needed to be. But then I've I've gotten to see the love in the last twenty years. But and my mom was a homegiver, home homemaker, but she worked as well. But she was just the most loving person that I that I know. Well, that's that's I'm gonna give that as one. I can fake it and give it too, but I'll try to keep it one. I'll say my brother's number two, just because I, like I said, I'm one of the youngest, and I've gotten to see my older brothers fail and succeed and and and do it with with class and dignity. And my brothers are the coolest dudes I know. So I'll give them one.
00:45:26
Speaker 2: Glad you got a great relationship with them.
00:45:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still want to kick their asses, but that's but that's being a brother, right family man? After that, do I need anymore? Christian Catholic got to say, God, you know, I'm not always perfect by by far, but when I'm in trouble and when I need some guidance, I kind of get spiritual and I and I think of that.
00:45:55
Speaker 2: I love it.
00:45:56
Speaker 1: And and again I'm not trying to be cheesy. I'm really not, because I'm kind of a I'm kind of a do it yourself guy. But I'll say my kids last, man, my two daughters have shown me how to be number one, a good dad because you have to be. And even though I screw up and do things wrong, you know, they've they've kind of they keep me in check as as kids will do. Yeah, she's over there. I had to give her some love. Yeah, but it's true her and I are, We're good. We're best friends. I'll say that we're best friends. And so yeah, man, it's family for me. I'm not always, like I said, I'm not always the best family guy. But when it comes down to it, I think it's the most important thing.
00:46:40
Speaker 2: So that's awesome. Yeah, well, Matt Man appreciated. Man, I think you're off the hot seat. Dude, you are off the hot.
00:46:46
Speaker 1: I hope I wasn't too boring. I hope it was just.
00:46:49
Speaker 3: You're awesome again, a great personality. You have an affectious smile.
00:46:53
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:46:53
Speaker 3: You're a big gentle giant.
00:46:59
Speaker 1: Right here.
00:47:00
Speaker 2: People. I don't even think people are going to get another wait till you stand up shirt.
00:47:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I talk to mister Thomas right now, I loved all my white substitutes.
00:47:13
Speaker 5: And we're good, all right, we're good.
00:47:16
Speaker 2: Appreciate you know. Man. Thanks Matt man he look. Thank you for all our followers and listeners.
00:47:20
Speaker 3: As always man and like we always say, man, give us a rating review five star review.
00:47:25
Speaker 2: Tell a friend, to tell a friend, what Tell a friend?
00:47:27
Speaker 3: There it is and you know anywhere you get podcasts, what is Apple podcasts or iHeartRadio podcast Please tell a friend and check us out for Peanut from Rome. That's wrong, that's Matt. That's Matt NFL player, Secment Podcast. We in l A and that's it.
00:47:45
Speaker 6: We out the toxicon
00:48:03
Speaker 1: Box.
Speaker 1: Everyone. This is Matt Willig, former nfler and current actor. You're listening to the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Welcome to the NFL Player Second Acts Podcast.
00:00:20
Speaker 3: I'm Peanutsman and this is my deacon as always, my guy rowand Harbor.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: Why are you smiling?
00:00:25
Speaker 3: Because I just love your enthusiasm quite alarming, excellently.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: You'd never got to bring it. No, No, I like it. I'm the traditional and with you for I just go right into it.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: I'm always I'm excited because this is a good version of panut today.
00:00:39
Speaker 2: So our guest is going to get a good show today, all right.
00:00:42
Speaker 3: Before we get to our guest, though, I want to thank all of our listeners, our followers that always tune in and pick us up, and remember you can always listen to us wherever you get your podcasts at WIS, Apple Podcasts or the iHeartRadio app.
00:00:55
Speaker 2: You know who's our guest today.
00:00:57
Speaker 3: We got a good one. He played fourteen years in the NFL, an offensive lineman. He's got a Super Bowl ring with the Rams. He played in another Super Bowl with the Panthers. We both played for the Panthers. You've seen him on TV shows, shows like The Young rock and movies like we were the Millers.
00:01:13
Speaker 2: Please welcome our guest, Matt Willig.
00:01:16
Speaker 4: Yay, guys, and he is not only that, but he is the big man in Hollywood. Literally, he's not a big manly, he's the big man.
00:01:26
Speaker 2: I'm one of them, at least.
00:01:31
Speaker 1: Only on TV. Guys. Let me say, man, real quick, it's proved to be here. I've been listening to this show and it rocks, and it's really an honor to be here. So thanks for having me.
00:01:41
Speaker 3: Man, thank you. You know, I didn't realize I was telling you outside. You know, you don't realize what you see or who you know on TV. And I was saying, you started looking like, oh, dude, god, not only I mean not he's a huge person, but he has the body of a football player. But he was a football player. And then, like I was telling you earlier, my wife is watching you in the as the Shield. Yeah, you know, I told her she was addicted to this movie of this show. And so it's been really cool to kind of like do a really big dive in into your career and how your life and all the avenues is taking you and what your acting career is like, what has been like, tell me one thing you're working on my pressure.
00:02:20
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, I'm me to say it's my acting career sort of emulates my NFL career. You know, people didn't know I played for so long. People don't know I've been an actor for so long. But I kind of just go along and I kind of grind my way through. But yeah, man, I was an undrafted free agent, you know. Yeah, was not supposed to make it in the NFL. Only reason I got in because I had a friend who was working at USC and who had some connections with the Jets and they said, hey, this guy has nothing else, will work hard for you. And that's sort of my my deal, and that's how my career started.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Well, you also said you were a d N at first.
00:02:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then you switched over offensivelive put on thirty forty pounds.
00:02:58
Speaker 1: That's a crazy story too. You got a coach coming to me one day after you know, we're in two days. Yeah, I'm getting abused that when it was days, it was the.
00:03:08
Speaker 2: Old school, six.
00:03:10
Speaker 1: Weeks in a row, six weeks of two days. Brutal coach came to me one day and said, hey, we want to work out some drills with you, and and two days later I had the head coach say, hey, we're going to send you home. We're going to bring you back as an offensive lineman on the practice squad and see how it goes. Fourteen years. Not bad, that's awesome.
00:03:29
Speaker 2: All right.
00:03:30
Speaker 3: I want to I want to talk to you about your closeness to win in the Super Bowl before you actually won the Super Bowl. Okay, all right, So and I had to we had to look this up a little bit. So in nineteen ninety seven you were in it. You played for the Falcons, yes, and you actually lost to the Packers.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: And they went to the Super Bowl. Correct, all right.
00:03:48
Speaker 3: Then the nineteen ninety eight, the following year, you're with the Packers and then they lost to the Falcons to go to Super Bowl.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: When they're doing the show, I.
00:03:56
Speaker 1: Actually lost to the forty nine ers. Oh yeah, okay, forty end up playing the Falcons. Falcons up going to the Super Bowl.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: Yes, I was rooting against you because not.
00:04:06
Speaker 1: Too many people know that. So that's pretty that's pretty good. Good.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: But we're connecting this whole all the dots here.
00:04:11
Speaker 3: Then in ninety nine, you actually won the Super Bowl, so you were close all these years, you finally win it, then you're around a little bit, and all of a sudden you get there again with the Panthers in two thousand and three, I was in my college dorm or actually my college.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: Apartment at the time. We had a little bit of money than you guys. Yeah, I was actually in the league. Yeah, oh yeah, well whatever.
00:04:32
Speaker 5: Him, Yes, yes, don't cry.
00:04:42
Speaker 2: I felt a little bit about that.
00:04:45
Speaker 1: Some of us color our hair so much, don't Yeah.
00:04:48
Speaker 3: Right, correct, But so talk about that the experience of being that close, always sniffing the Super Bowl, finally getting there, and then all of a sudden winning it, and then getting there again it maybe and then losing it.
00:05:00
Speaker 1: You know, listen, as you guys know, man, just being in the league is a privilege sometimes and and you know how hard guys work and don't get there, don't work, and so you know, my my main focus was just staying in the league, staying active. But yeah, there were some times where I'm like, man, this maybe this is my sort of curse, you know, in the league. I'm gonna stay in the league, but I'm always going to be that you know that also kind of just getting close but never getting there, So it was rough. It was especially the one where I was with the Packers and they had been to a couple of bulls in a row. Yeah, you know, and then I thought, Okay, I'm making this nice jump here. Well I'm gonna get on a team that's going to be back. And then we lose, and then the Falcons, you know who we saw a building kind of progress going on, but you know, I didn't think they were going to get and then the dirty birds freaking all the way. Yeah. But listen, man, it's win or lose. You know. To me, the super Bowl wasn't the ultimate. I was just worried about kind of making sure that I was part of the team and contributing things like that. Man, I didn't really have those Super Bowl aspirations. It was really just about kind of, let's i'll be honest, you know, making money for me and my family and kind of keeping that thing going because again, every year as a free agent, I had to prove myself over and over and over again. You know, my first five years in the league, I had five different head coaches. So when you're that free agent guy, there's one coach that kind of loves you and kind of pulls on and say yeah, you're my guy, and then he's out of there, and next thing you know, you got another coach who wants to know you, don't know you, and he wants to he wants the first round, or he wants the guy who's you know, who's touted. So that was kind of my thing. So you know, I was I was just trying to stay afloat.
00:06:43
Speaker 3: I gotta be honest, though, I've never heard anybody say that that played in the NFL, that the Super Bowl was never.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: Like the ultimate.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Yea.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: Really, I've never heard anybody say that.
00:06:54
Speaker 1: That's what makes me stupid.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: Or unique unique?
00:07:00
Speaker 1: Yea. Go, and she was at the NFL career and then she was an acting career after that.
00:07:07
Speaker 3: So how proud are you too? I mean, well, let's listen. You went to USC, Yeah, you know, a very franchised organization college prominent, A prominent, I mean, just a great school. You go there, good career, and then you go undrafted fourteen years in the NFL playing a different position than what you didn't play, So how tell us, like, how proud are you just from from having that long of a career without being drafted?
00:07:40
Speaker 1: Your work, everything thank you, man, I appreciate That's that's kind of where my pride comes from. That's that's that's the most for me. You know, like I said, I wasn't supposed to make it. You know. I played with guys like Junior Sea, Mark Carrier, you know, guys have played a long time and had were touted from day one. You know, I go back and meet meet my guys from SC and there and they just, you know, they still can't believe it all these years later. Like that, I was the guy. I was the guy who went that long. But that was kind of where the pride was. You know. For me. I got a couple of you know, inner mantras that I kind of go through, and one of them just why not me, you know, and why why can't I be that guy? You know, whether it's like I said, the acting or the NFL. But yeah, that was a huge source of pride that I was able to kind of put myself in a place where, especially after year six seven eight, I was known as a guy who could come in, learn the system right away, be a smart enough guy to kind of play a couple of different positions and be valuable to a team, whether it was starting or not. You know, I started only so many games under one hundred, but I probably doubled that in games I played three quarters or more because I could come in and back up like that.
00:08:51
Speaker 2: And so I think your starts were like forty six or forty eight.
00:08:54
Speaker 1: Man I said I was closer to one hundred. What the hell? No, you're right, okay, whatever.
00:08:58
Speaker 3: Shotowing No, but he played in like one hundred and sixty, one hundred and seventy something.
00:09:04
Speaker 1: So it's like, like I said, yeah, I doubled that in probably games I played at least a half or more, you know, So when you think of it that way, I was valuable in much more ways than just being that starter guy. And so yeah, that was a huge source of pride for me that I was able to do it and do it well for for.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: A long time talking about pride, and this is kind of off the subject and going back a little bit, I read that you know, you were standing by Dick Vermill when London.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Fletcher tackles Kevin Dison.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: Yes, right, boom, you win the game, emotional, everybody's happy, you celebrating, and then you're in Carolina. I'd like to know maybe where were you standing when all of a sudden, Tom Brady drives him all the way down.
00:09:43
Speaker 2: And now looking back.
00:09:44
Speaker 3: On it, tom Brady when he did that then was not tom Brady that we know And sit here and I'm looking at right here today, does it give you any type of emotion knowing that Tom Brady has become who he's become, and like maybe you're like, you know what it was just we were just in the and we had no idea.
00:10:01
Speaker 1: Well, it was the beginning of his legacy, you know, it really was. And that was a heartbreaking loss, man, because I tell you what you know, as you guys know, when you the further you get and and when you when you have those kind of teams that get to the super Bowl and teams that do well no matter what, you have this camaraderie and this sort of closeness for the team that you that you reach and that year came out of nowhere. First game, Rodney Peat gets hurt. Who's our starter? Jake Delum comes in sort of the same feeling with the Rams, you know, where Kurt Warner came in. So the expectations were low and to have those kind of seasons were so high that that that, But I remember I was actually on the field goal block team when when their kicker, Terry thank You, kicked the winning kick. There's a picture of me putting my hand up with the ball going right over it as he's kicking the winning field goal. So, you know, heartbreak is the word that I think of. But again, yeah, to look back on it and say, well, that was really the beginning of the staple of that legacy of Toel Brady, Man of the Goat. So it's pretty nuts.
00:11:10
Speaker 3: So I got thirteen, you got eleven.
00:11:14
Speaker 2: Fourteen.
00:11:15
Speaker 3: I know for me, my body started to I guess shut down on trema acio my last year. So at that point in time, I knew it was time to retire. What point in your career did you know it was time to walk away from the game.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: I had some knee injuries that were not major, but they were kind of they were adding up, you know, I was bone on bone on both of them, and things where I just couldn't you know, there's an alignment. If you can't bend your knees and get low, especially when you're six eight, Yeah, there's a problem. So I think it was sort of the last year when I was spending so much time in the training room, and you guys know how that goes. You know, at the end, you're just spending so much effort just trying to get out to practice sometimes and you know, I don't know about you guys, but even you know, year fifteen, I was thinking, man, I hope someone calls. You know. I wasn't sure what what what what my status would be, but I would say right around year twelve, I was kind of doing nothing, just doing a simple little drill sort of blew my meniscus and tore it, you know. And so that was when I kind of started to really kind of wonder how many more years I got left?
00:12:20
Speaker 2: And you still squeaked out another and I.
00:12:22
Speaker 1: Still squeaked out another two, and I'm feeling it, and I'm feeling it.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: You don't look like it.
00:12:27
Speaker 3: You walked in right, you ever crossed your leg. A lot of people can't do that, even do that. You can't do that.
00:12:34
Speaker 2: I know.
00:12:34
Speaker 1: Well, flexibility was a big thing for me too, clearly.
00:12:38
Speaker 3: So tell me this though you were doing some TV and early you know, interviewing and like analysts work when you were playing.
00:12:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I started out. I started out. I hate the interrupt you, but.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: No, no, it's fine. I just want to know. Was that always part of the plan? Did you know?
00:12:55
Speaker 1: It was not?
00:12:56
Speaker 2: It was not because it led to acting.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: I'll start with when I in my career, I was thinking, you know, football analyst, football guy, or or let's try the acting. But before that even started, Yeah, I was hosting radio and TV shows. You know, we all know we get those. Back then it was radio. You know, you do radio shows like with the Lineman kind of thing, Matt Willie with you know, with the old Line kind of stuff. And I started doing that, then started hosting and being part of the forty nine ers weekly stuff, you know, things like that, where I just got comfortable being in front of the camera and had a little bit of a I don't know a personality.
00:13:30
Speaker 2: You do have a person out. You have a good person out.
00:13:33
Speaker 1: Thank you, brother, I appreciate you. But yeah, that's how it started. And then had a friend who had an agent in the business who dealt with a lot of ex athletes, and so right around year in fact, it was just after we had won the Super Bowl with the Rams, I ended up doing a commercial so I got I got into the acting thing, and I booked my first commercial.
00:13:54
Speaker 2: What was the commercial?
00:13:55
Speaker 1: It was the commercial with Terrell Davis and Kurt Warner for Campbells soup and I played it, you know, I played an offensive lineman for the Rams Easy Giver. But so I was doing that, you know, my last three or four years in the NFL. I was doing it every off season. I'd go and I'd do three or four commercials, you know, and started having instant success. And so that's when I kind of thought, you know, let's give this a shot and see what happens. So that's kind of how it started.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: Did you get any free soup after the commercial?
00:14:25
Speaker 1: They didn't tried you after about seven hours of its city of it sitting around.
00:14:32
Speaker 3: That's the best thing about it, man, I'd have got all the free soup I wanted. So was it hard getting into the like the acting bug? Like what made you want to get into acting itself?
00:14:40
Speaker 2: Though?
00:14:41
Speaker 3: Like I know, we do radio, we do TV, that's kind of the typical thing for us to do when we retire, and.
00:14:45
Speaker 2: Commercial playing offensive linement that's not really different.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I'm curious, like how did you get into like that? What was that first big role like for you to get into character makeup, crying not crying emotional.
00:14:59
Speaker 1: I'm the fifth of six boys, and I was always looking for attention. That's kind of where it starts.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:15:05
Speaker 1: You know, when you're this big, you're always just kind of you take on that personality of kind of being the jokester guy. And I was that guy. I was that guy in the NFL. I was the guy who kept things loose, kind of always had that sort of goofy personality. And that's kind of how it started. I got with an acting coach and worked for first couple of years just to see where I was at. Yeah, and Stuart Robinson, I'll never forget him. He again. He dealt a lot of ex athletes and he told me right away. He's like, man, he goes, you've got something, You've got it. You have a kind of a fearless attitude about things where you have these instincts, and a lot of times instincts will carry you for a while, you know what I mean. If you just kind of think you know what you're talking about, you can take it till you make it. Yeah, and I did that, I'm telling you. And I was lucky enough to have some good roles and get some good things where they fit. Now again, being my heights man, there's only certain roles that you're good for, right, you know, I'm not going to play the leading guy. I'm not going to So it was a lot of bad guys. It was a lot of things that to me seemed easy. You know, it's only when you get into the heavy dialogue and things like that where you got to really show emotion, where where you decide whether or not you know you got what it takes. And again it's little steps man, as you guys know, you know, you take these little steps climbing that ladder to figure out how far you can go. And so I was doing that and it was working for me.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: So by you being so high at a man of your stature, being six eighty six y nine, and you can only play so many roles, do you is that a little discouraging you being Was it called type casting? Yeah?
00:16:41
Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to be the bad guy all the time. I want to be the lover, not the fire specifically the.
00:16:45
Speaker 1: Bad guy for sure. You know. I like playing guys who are a little different and have some emotion, and that was cool to kind of get to a place where I was playing some of those guys. But it takes time. You know, Hollywood loves the type cast. It's been said for years and years and years, and it's true because they like you the way you fit, you know, and it's only when you do. I was able to do a couple of independent things, you know, things that were lower budget where you can kind of get out and do your own thing, where you kind of you put that on a reel, you know, you show other people things like that where where they finally start to go, Okay, He's got some chops. It's been one of the coolest things about acting has been some of the little responses from people that I that I admire or respect, who have said, you know, Matt's got some chops. Matt's got some acting ability. And for a guy who kind of came up the way I did just being an act a ball player, that means a lot to me too.
00:17:40
Speaker 3: So I've done one movie in my entire life, and I did I did this. I did The Sharknado. May the Fourth be.
00:17:46
Speaker 1: Witchy that the respect level just bounce, man.
00:17:53
Speaker 3: I saw, Yeah, I had like one line and I have no design to be an actor whatsoever. But the dude reached out and I was like, well, yeah, whatever, I'll do it. Didn't read the script till I got there, Like, I totally was not prepared. Wish I had had an acting coach or whatever. But anyway, I guess my question is what does an acting coach do? Like, what could an acting coach teach you? Like, what do you do? I know, football drills, I do certain drills to get me in my feet, right hand drive, whatever, Like what do you do as an acting coach?
00:18:25
Speaker 1: I'll give you a great example early on, because I'm sort of a handsy guy who likes to kind of talk like this. Sometimes I was doing that as an actor and he would say, plant your feet and stop moving, be still, And that was one of the earliest lessons I learned, was to be still where you are and you don't realize how much you kind of move around and do things, especially if i'm you know, you're someone like me who did until you kind of realize what you're doing and stop doing it or start doing something like that, then you know that's that's some of the real keys. It's the minimalization of things that you do. You know, just eye movement as opposed to shaking your head and making a face or things like that that really make the difference between kind of being that's just a guy who does it sometimes, or a guy who can kind of elevate himself into that next level of acting, which again, man, if there's eighty levels of acting ability, I'm on you know, the top, I'm on the first ten. You know, I got so much further to go. But again, those are some of the things that you do. It's amazing to be able to see yourself. Just like when we're when we're balling, you know, you think you're doing something right, and then you watch tape or film and you go, I didn't realize I did that. Yeah, you know, and it kind of takes film sometimes to be able to see what you're doing wrong. Right. It's the same with acting. You know, you're able to see the little things that you can kind of change moving forward. And again, like I said early on, man, being just being still and being kind of planted where you are it was a huge thing.
00:20:04
Speaker 3: So I mean that's got to be huge for you, you know, especially with your stature, right, you can already be a little bit overbearing compared to probably your your co actors.
00:20:13
Speaker 2: Besides you, You're going to be way bigger.
00:20:14
Speaker 3: We don't need you flailing arms, right, this it takes away from what you're actually saying. Is that where they were trying to give you that that's one of the biggest advices for you. I'm sure, and somebody may tell me something completely different, but we all have to accept it.
00:20:27
Speaker 2: I really love that part of it. The other part, what I.
00:20:30
Speaker 3: Really want to know is what's the difference between like a low budget, like independent independent film like budget like be able to tell the average person I've never been on the set, like break that down from me, like one of the biggest differences because like I think I know, but I don't know it all.
00:20:48
Speaker 1: To say all these things with and being delicate, I don't want to offend anybody out there and then they don't know. Yeah, right, is it to be?
00:20:55
Speaker 2: Is it like to be low budget?
00:20:57
Speaker 1: It's Here's what it is. Number one. It's obviously money. Money that they invest in actors, that they invest in, sets, that they invest in the ability to shoot somewhere a lot of times, just you know, being able to pay for a spot to shoot is important, you know, So all those things. It's it's across the board. I would say, number one, the level of acting is you know, the actor that you're going to get on a higher budget obviously is something. But again sometimes when you get with the right crew I did. I did a movie called The Employer with Malcolm McDowell in a cast of about four or five people. Where very low budget, but you knew right away coming in these are high level actors that are just kind of doing you know. And I'll say another thing is script. The script, Well, when you get a good script that you know it's it's going to be something. A lot of times when you get in those lower budgets just a little suspect and lacks a little bit, you know. And but a lot of times you have the ability to play with that script a little bit, yeah, to kind of to kind of to make things right, or you can see the writings not good and things like that. It's like I said, it's it's hard to answer because, like I said, across the board, it's just always a little bit lower that the lower level of of of everything.
00:22:24
Speaker 3: So I know a couple like I don't know how far a few years back, though you were you were at a gym you were was it an Equinox gym? And you're working out and you you happen to run into the rock and you guys have this brief moment conversation and you asked him for some advice because you were trying.
00:22:41
Speaker 2: To get into the acting.
00:22:43
Speaker 3: What was that advice and how has that helped you with your career thus far?
00:22:47
Speaker 1: It was interesting because it was very specific. I didn't being fully aware of not overstepping your bounds with with someone like that, you know, it's kind of important. So we were working out for a couple of weeks and and we we'd just do some sets together, nothing big. And I had a movie coming out called Year One, which was kind of my first big movie that I had done Michael Sarah Jack Black. Yeah, and there was some instances I wasn't invited to the New York premiere, and so it was very specific about, hey man, what do you think what angle should I take in sort of putting myself in there, you know, and forcing myself in there and looking back at it now, Dwayne was the perfect guy because Dwayne has forced himself into a lot of things, you know, to make himself you know, one of the greatest that we have today. And he was very honest about things and kind of gave me that sort of advice that was, you know, push your way through, man, don't don't say no, don't let know be an answer, don't let them tell you you can't go somewhere, things like that. And so that was cool. You know, it was cool just to have that and kind of keep it light and simple. And he was very cool about it. And he ended up kind of very soon after that, kind of getting his own gym and you know, kind of going private and uh, I'd see him from time to time where he would come up and give me some love and say now and one day, man, we'll work together one day and to kind of come full circle and have it be with Young Rock and have it be his story, uh, and play a guy that he considered basically his uncle. You know, he used to call him uncle Andrea as a kid. So that's kind of kind of a neat, little full circle moment.
00:24:29
Speaker 3: So I just want to briefly talk about your role in Young Rock when you when you play Andre the Giants. For for those listening and watching Andre the Giant, it was about was he seven seven feet tall.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: He weighed about five.
00:24:46
Speaker 3: I mean every wrestler, they get taller every time they announce their names.
00:24:51
Speaker 1: It was one of them.
00:24:54
Speaker 3: I remember watching him as a kid, and uh, I remember one HAULK Hogan, but the body was my ever lasting mine at like six years old, that moment right there, haul Cogan, I was like, yo, he is a truth, he is the deal. Now you don't look like you four hundred and fifty pounds. What all did you have to do? What did your body have to do to become that player? And I like to hear too, you I like the little curls.
00:25:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't even my hair.
00:25:26
Speaker 1: And so that was that's the transformation I needed to make, you know, when I when I booked it, it was funny because they never even said to me, hey, we want you to gain weight or we want you to kind of get into that sort of mode that would look like andre. They booked me at, you know, basically kind of what I weigh now, maybe even a little less. I'm about three and I'm like two ninety five, and I was probably a little bit less. But I took upon myself to gain thirty pounds for the first year, and you know it was it was just about being soft and having that Andre look after that it was you know, it's facial mannerisms. It's things like that that you got to really look at. I studied everything that he did, and then once you put that wig and the different outfits on, it sort of transforms you. But yeah, the weight was the biggest thing because I really wanted to feel that, and you know, when you're on camera, everything adds, and so being three hundred and thirty pounds six ' eight it transforms into seven foot four hundred and fifty, you know really, So yeah, it was a grueling grind to kind of keep that weight on where everybody else was. All the other wrestlers were losing weight and trying to look as good as they could, you know, getting them n abs going. I was like, hey, let's go and have some lunch, you know, let's go eat another burger. And so that was kind of funny, but it was I took it really seriously, you know, because I didn't want to. This guy is iconic. The is iconic even if you don't know wrestling, you know, Princess Bride, the movie he did, and so there was a there was a great responsibility honestly to kind of do it right, kind of have a lot of respect for it. You know, even though it's a show where they're going to dramatize things and kind of make make some stuff up and to make it a show, it was really important kind of for me to make it believable, respectful, you know, and and make it so that people who knew Andre back in the day. That was one of the biggest things that I had since sources of pride. You know, as the show was going on, was people were coming to me who knew Andre and saying, man, kind of uncanny. You know, some of the things that you're doing remind me of Andre, and so a lot of respect for that.
00:27:43
Speaker 3: So I got one question for you before we move on to the next one is all right, so when you're saying you're watching film on Andre Andrea giant, like, how much film do you watch? I know, when we say watch film, we watch like football, but like, how much film do you really watch?
00:27:56
Speaker 1: I watched every every interview Andre did at least twenty twenty five times, and there wasn't that many. There were different points in his life where he spoke less good English. Yeah right, you know, then he started to learn a little more. Uh then he became heavier, even heavier when he was older, and he kind of had you and the more. My biggest thing was I would oh, you almost did it. I know, I know what I said, the tongue want you dead in the tongue. You know, you make the tongue as big as you can, so you with everything is got Oh yeah, So that's kind of where I started that and it was, uh yeah, that was kind of where it started. And then again just to kind of make a point when I was when I came in and I had so much confidence going back to that that I was that I could do it. I was almost and I don't want to be respect disrespectful to the executive producers, but they let me do some things. You know, they said, hey, we trust you enough to where if you want to make these choices or these things. You know, sometimes I would say, hey, Andre wouldn't wear this, you know, or Andre wouldn't have done this. The first season, you go back to that WrestleMania three incident with Hulkgan. They wanted me to wear that black singlet, which he's very famous for, but he never wore it. Early on he only wore kind of at a certain point in his career. They wanted me to wear it the first season, and I kind of said, hey, Andre wouldn't have worn this before the time, and they respected me enough to say, okay, we get it, you know, and they would change it up little things like that. That kind of along the way allowed me to kind of have some real good say over the character, which was really cool.
00:29:38
Speaker 2: And you wouldn't know that unless you watched in.
00:29:41
Speaker 3: Study the film. That's so important. Yeah, My other thing is how does that make you feel? Do you feel like closer to the rock because it's it's really like a part of his story, a part of his life. Do you feel closer in that way knowing that he was kind of that person that kind of gave you confidence in this lane, right like because we all got to have somebody to believe in us or teller's at some point like man, like you can do this, it's okay, to believe that it's okay. And how does that maybe emotionally take you in a place or or have you ever just wrapped your head around all of that?
00:30:15
Speaker 1: You know, I have, And it's a trip because I look back on even the first day that I auditioned for Andre the Giant for it, and knowing that it was Dwayne's story and knowing that it was you know that he was going to be looking at that and seeing my audition and stuff, and there was a sense of kind of calmness about it. There was a sense of he knows me, He's going to know more about me. Yeah, and I kind of had that little confidence about, yeah, let's do this. I ended up talking to to the executive producer of the show runner of the show, Nanatchka Khan, and she was there for my audition, and she told me later on, you know, when I walked in with this confidence, they almost knew instantly that I was.
00:31:00
Speaker 2: No.
00:31:00
Speaker 1: You don't get me wrong. I needed to fit the bill physically, and I came in speaking French, which threw them for a loop. They actually asked me if I knew French fluently, But yeah, there's no say I used that sort of that, you know, looking back on that same feeling that he gave me, I used that on my audition and and knew instantly, and sure enough they told me later on that they do right away that I was going to be there.
00:31:25
Speaker 2: Andre Number one French is a beautiful language. How do you know French?
00:31:28
Speaker 3: You can't just you can't just drop that, Yeah, I don't know French.
00:31:34
Speaker 1: I was able to learn a couple of lines in the dialogue that they had and speak it in a way. That's another thing that I sort of have the ability to do, is is I have the ability to to give accents. I can learn them pretty quickly. And I've been able to play some characters Russian or kind of an Eastern European or in this case having a French accent. And don't get it wrong, I got with a French dialect coach and she helped me later on. But I was able to fake it just enough that audition and do it well where they was like, damn, you can speak French to you like I will, I will what I need to you know? So so yeah.
00:32:17
Speaker 2: Do you think you mimic? How you hear it?
00:32:19
Speaker 3: Because Trevor Nor he he's real big into traveling and learning on the languages, right, and he goes the biggest difference with learning language is why it's easier for kids to learn language, because kids they don't mind making a fool of themselves because they can just mimic it. So I'm not saying I'm an expert at mimicking people, but when I imitate or if I'm telling a joke or whatever, I kind of mimic what I hear. So do you think that's kind of what?
00:32:43
Speaker 1: That's where it starts. And with every language that you try to mimic or have an accent with, there's always four or five key things or key words that you'll hear from either someone with a French accent or someone with an Irish accent, or someone with an Eastern European accent that you recognize. You know that you can go, Okay, that sounds legit because those are words they would change or not be able to change. You know, they wouldn't use certain vowels, stuff like that. You know, as trivial as it sounds, those are the things that kind of are important. And again going back to having the skills as a as a next level actor, those are the things you kind of do.
00:33:22
Speaker 3: I'm making all the connections here because you were like a young kid. You said, like making fun of myself. This is kind of like being the big guy and just trying to make it easy on everybody. Pi's like No, that's how you actually learn how to make and actually sound like other languages as well. That's you know, you're putting all these things to put yourself out there. Got to be able to put yourself out there.
00:33:42
Speaker 1: You can look at every comedian and they have the ability to do that. Yes, speaking seventeen different you know sort of characters or whatever. It's that same mentality. It's that same kind of Again I said, I was the fifth of six boys. You know, you're always looking for attention. Yeah, and so it's those kinds of things that I always sort of used and had at my disposal to kind of you know, used to lighten situations or whatever, you know, kind of make myself in a in a relationship with somebody.
00:34:12
Speaker 2: We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back. I want to ask you about what it was like when.
00:34:19
Speaker 3: When you were playing in playing the role in the movie Concussion.
00:34:24
Speaker 2: It was were you ever?
00:34:26
Speaker 3: It was a very deep dive and I was actually nervous as a football player to watch the movie. I just used to stay away from it. I still have not watched it because you have not. No, I just I just kind of stayed away from it because I was always so nervous, like, is it going to be insight into my own life? I should probably be okay to do it now because I've been retired for six years and I work on TV. I don't have any injuries mentally or brain injuries.
00:34:50
Speaker 1: That I know of.
00:34:51
Speaker 2: So but enough about me, But back to you. Were you ever emotionally drained?
00:34:57
Speaker 3: How did this movie affect you internally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually playing the role that you had to play, and also maybe talk about the preparation going into it.
00:35:08
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, I know all those things. Man. I again talking about taking a role seriously and really kind of having in connection with it. So I played Justin Strelzik, who was a former NFL lineman who ended up taking his life, many believe because of CTE. I met with his widow. That was the first thing I wanted to do, and even before that, got in touch with her where she sent me a box full of his drawings, his writings, his music. He was a real eclectic guy where he played the guitar and kinda he wrote. He wanted to be an actor, honestly, and so there was all these things that where he would write, and so she sent me a whole bunch of stuff. So getting into that part of it was really huge, kind of getting into a mindset of that downward spiral that one would go through, because like you, I'm lucky enough, and I think it's part of what we why we do this. I think keeping the brain active and motivated is a huge factor. So that was it. And then when I got out to Pittsburgh, we shot in Pittsburgh, met with the widow and his family. It's funny because they have a son named Justin, who was born on the same day I was born. They ended up. I said I was going to ride a motorcycle, which he rode. I said, is there any way to get his motorcycle? His son had his motorcycle that he rode, and so I learned how to ride because I hadn't never I had ridden, but he had a big hat. He had a big Harley, and so I needed some practice. Anyways, learn learned how to do that. And it was all these little things that I'm telling you, like just like I'm talking about before, the little things that kind of make and put yourself into a position where you're ready to rock when it comes time. My scenes were emotional, the actors that played his widow or his wife at the time. We cried for ten hours doing a scene just to stay in that moment, that place where you know, there's a scene where I get violent and ended up leaving, and I remember it distinctly between scenes us holding hands, there's two actors who had just met a couple of days ago holding hands, trying to hold back tears because of this of the seriousness, severity, the the you know, the the climactic sort of heat that was going on on scene. I ended up choking her in a scene which it wasn't in the in the script, which scared the hell out of her, scared me because the director wanted me to do it, so again going back, kind of cutting, cutting through. Uh. It was those things kind of that that put me in that in that space to kind of maybe feel where what he might have been feeling. But the whole concept of CT and things like that kind of again, you walk in with this idea that I need to kind of take take this serious as because I'm part of it. Yeah, I could be living this right right. He knows, you know, I've known guys. I played with Junior s, I roomed with junior Seal, another linebacker Scott Ross who was a big time player at S see my Times. He ended up taking his life and they found CT. So I've been around it, I've seen it, and so yeah, man, it was. It was a heavy deal and I had so much again going back to even like with andre, I had so much pride kind of getting involved in it and being a part of it. And uh so it was. It was pretty cool, all right.
00:38:45
Speaker 3: Tell me this though, one last thing to finish that up. How do you get back out of playing such a serious role where you've been involved with the family, you've met with the widow, you ride the bike, you see all these things so intimate, Like you're saying, you whole hands crying. Yeah, such a serious moment of it. How do you get back out of that? And like, okay, drugs an alcohol? Yeah, can I say that?
00:39:07
Speaker 2: I mean it, I mean I appreciate that.
00:39:10
Speaker 1: No again, I think to me, going back to CT real quick, I think that part of the issue with a lot of guys, this is just my opinion only, is that they have pre existing conditions. I think that a lot of them have these dual personalities. They're ups and their downs. Are really high. So that kind of comes with the territory. I've always been one who has always sort of looked at things from the comical side of things.
00:39:37
Speaker 4: M h.
00:39:38
Speaker 1: So I kind of that for me is a great way to pull back is to have some comedy with things and kind of keep things light. And again, I was there for maybe a couple of weeks while I was shooting and then sort of taking yourself out of that situation. I had a huge beard that was justin's. You know that I that I that I grew, shaved that off, you know, you just changed the whole personas There's all sorts of things like that that I would do that It would put me back into the Matt Willig mode, you know, or you go home and you know, slapping some kids around. I'm joking, of course, but being a parent, you know, we'll let you take you out of that and all sorts of things like that to kind of put you back where you need to be.
00:40:16
Speaker 3: Okay, good, So we're gonna flip it. We're gonna get into a couple of fun questions. Now me, I'm a big movie guy. I love movies, seeing a ton of movies. I probably go to movie about myself. I go all the time, I'm the same guy.
00:40:26
Speaker 2: So we're the Millers. Yes, hilarious.
00:40:29
Speaker 3: I probably watched it a month ago and just by chance, now we meet you and we're doing this show. There's a remember his daughter's in here, Nah, she's This is a very good you could watch.
00:40:40
Speaker 2: Your kids can watch this. I've seen the movie. I know exactly where you're going. I know who he played. So there's a there's a strip te scene.
00:40:48
Speaker 3: In that part when you guys are in that warehouse or whatever and they get called the cartel and all that.
00:40:53
Speaker 2: So was she supposed to strip tease with you or did they cut that out twenty minutes before shooting the scene? Is what I yes, was told twenty minutes of what I've read twenty minutes before the scene. Jennifer Amiston cancer. Well, she don't know if she can.
00:41:09
Speaker 1: She didn't cancel. What happened was in the script. It's that she comes over to my character and dances all over me. And that was my first day of shooting. So I'm there in the in the scene, so it was kind of it was easy. But yeah, that was a funny little moment of going, Man, I almost had almost had Jennifer Aniston give me a lap dance.
00:41:30
Speaker 2: I guess I.
00:41:34
Speaker 1: Could have done anything got fired. I would have been happy. That was the fun. By the way, that was a fun movie to shoot, fun movie.
00:41:39
Speaker 2: It was a fun movie to watch. It's got the edits.
00:41:47
Speaker 1: That's it's funnyuse when people see that, that's like people have known me forever, kind of go, that's the Matt Willie right, No, you know the guy kind of tickling somebody at the end there. Yeah, that's a lot of fun.
00:41:59
Speaker 2: What is what's been your favorite role that you've ever done? Been and over sixty films and what sixty films?
00:42:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot, I would say, Andre just just for the year fact that it's it was really close to my heart kind of doing that and and and kind of do it well and get some acclaim for it. Was was pretty cool.
00:42:21
Speaker 2: Now, were you a wrestling fan growing up? Did you ever watch anything it was?
00:42:24
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I wasn't a huge wrest I know, I know, I know.
00:42:27
Speaker 2: Six boys, six boys.
00:42:28
Speaker 1: We would wrestle as big.
00:42:30
Speaker 2: As you are, Like they're not the rest. No driving in the house.
00:42:34
Speaker 1: No, never had never been to a show, didn't know any of that. You know, I knew characters and things, but I was never a huge fan.
00:42:41
Speaker 2: Your brother never put you in the Boston craft.
00:42:45
Speaker 1: You just slapped and I was playing one of maybe ten other guys in the in the in the shot. But he took the time to kind of give me some one on one and that he did not disappoint.
00:42:57
Speaker 6: Man.
00:42:57
Speaker 1: He was as cool as I thought he was. And and so that was really that was a big.
00:43:01
Speaker 2: One, all right.
00:43:02
Speaker 3: And now I got to go off script now because you just said something that now I have to know. Okay, you're talking about filming in Asia? All right, where is the coolest place you've ever filmed?
00:43:12
Speaker 2: Well?
00:43:12
Speaker 1: The funny thing, we shot that here in the States, but it only showed over you know a lot of times. Yeah, these big time actors will get paid a ton of money to kind of do this. I think it was for like a petroleum company or gas company. It was the random something random. But they get paid a ton of money to shoot these commercials that will never be shown in the States. Where's the coolest place I'm shot? Where have I been? God Lord? I would say year one. This is a is another weird answer. Year one we shot in a place called White Sands, New Mexico.
00:43:44
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I've been there. I've driven through there before.
00:43:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a truck you're talking about literally White Sands for miles. I remember. Because I'm a golfer, I ended up pulling out golf clubs. I'm just like a cave man. I'm pulling out golf clubs and hitting all was like as far as I can. Yeah, So that was one of the cool places.
00:44:03
Speaker 3: We will be best friends because I'm a golfer too.
00:44:08
Speaker 1: I just played Tory Pine the other day for the first time in about fifteen years, and I had to shoot had a blast shot. In the eighties, both in relationship wise. You know, my parents they were They were the type of parents that never really showed. They didn't fight in front of us, which to me was a cool thing. I knew they would be mad at each other. I knew they had our arguments and fights. He just took the time to kind of go, hey, we're not going to put this out there for for our kids. For me, that was cool. The grind. They showed me how to grind. My dad was a was a cop and uh and worked a couple of jobs outside of that. To raise six boys. He was being and angry because that's how he needed to be. But then I've I've gotten to see the love in the last twenty years. But and my mom was a homegiver, home homemaker, but she worked as well. But she was just the most loving person that I that I know. Well, that's that's I'm gonna give that as one. I can fake it and give it too, but I'll try to keep it one. I'll say my brother's number two, just because I, like I said, I'm one of the youngest, and I've gotten to see my older brothers fail and succeed and and and do it with with class and dignity. And my brothers are the coolest dudes I know. So I'll give them one.
00:45:26
Speaker 2: Glad you got a great relationship with them.
00:45:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still want to kick their asses, but that's but that's being a brother, right family man? After that, do I need anymore? Christian Catholic got to say, God, you know, I'm not always perfect by by far, but when I'm in trouble and when I need some guidance, I kind of get spiritual and I and I think of that.
00:45:55
Speaker 2: I love it.
00:45:56
Speaker 1: And and again I'm not trying to be cheesy. I'm really not, because I'm kind of a I'm kind of a do it yourself guy. But I'll say my kids last, man, my two daughters have shown me how to be number one, a good dad because you have to be. And even though I screw up and do things wrong, you know, they've they've kind of they keep me in check as as kids will do. Yeah, she's over there. I had to give her some love. Yeah, but it's true her and I are, We're good. We're best friends. I'll say that we're best friends. And so yeah, man, it's family for me. I'm not always, like I said, I'm not always the best family guy. But when it comes down to it, I think it's the most important thing.
00:46:40
Speaker 2: So that's awesome. Yeah, well, Matt Man appreciated. Man, I think you're off the hot seat. Dude, you are off the hot.
00:46:46
Speaker 1: I hope I wasn't too boring. I hope it was just.
00:46:49
Speaker 3: You're awesome again, a great personality. You have an affectious smile.
00:46:53
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:46:53
Speaker 3: You're a big gentle giant.
00:46:59
Speaker 1: Right here.
00:47:00
Speaker 2: People. I don't even think people are going to get another wait till you stand up shirt.
00:47:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I talk to mister Thomas right now, I loved all my white substitutes.
00:47:13
Speaker 5: And we're good, all right, we're good.
00:47:16
Speaker 2: Appreciate you know. Man. Thanks Matt man he look. Thank you for all our followers and listeners.
00:47:20
Speaker 3: As always man and like we always say, man, give us a rating review five star review.
00:47:25
Speaker 2: Tell a friend, to tell a friend, what Tell a friend?
00:47:27
Speaker 3: There it is and you know anywhere you get podcasts, what is Apple podcasts or iHeartRadio podcast Please tell a friend and check us out for Peanut from Rome. That's wrong, that's Matt. That's Matt NFL player, Secment Podcast. We in l A and that's it.
00:47:45
Speaker 6: We out the toxicon
00:48:03
Speaker 1: Box.
