Letting Them Talk with Will Harris

willharrisinva
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Performing Arts
  • Updated Weekly

Longtime pop culture journalist Will Harris, perhaps best known for his work at the A.V. Club (or, more specifically, for his Random Roles interviews), finally embarks on a straightforward interview podcast, chatting with actors, writers, musicians, political pundits, comic book artists... The world is his oyster, and he's planning to make the most of it!

  1. 1d ago

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 43 - Jane Seymour (Harry Wild / Dr. Quinn / Live and Let Die / Somewhere in Time / Battlestar Galactica / Radiohead )

    This time I’m letting Jane Seymour talk. Jane has been a staple of TV and film since the start of the 1970s. Having gotten her start as an uncredited extra in the 1969 film Oh! What a Lovely War. By the following year, she was actually being credited, and by 1973, she was a Bond girl, so it’s fair to say that she moved up the ranks pretty quickly as an actress…and she’s yet to stop moving or acting. At the moment, she’s starring in the fifth series of the Irish detective dramedy Harry Wild, which you can check out on Acorn TV, and although it’s been a fun watch from the very beginning, this season is particularly eyebrow-raising for those who’ve been fans of Seymour’s since her Dr. Quinn days, as she’s reteamed with Joe Lando, a.k.a. the good doctor’s old beau Sully. Suffice it to say that the twosome still have the same chemistry that they used to, so if you’re a fan, you’ll definitely want to see how they’re playing together as this new pair of characters. Given that that’s Jane’s current project, that’s of course where we start our conversation, but we made our way through as much of her career as we could during the time that we had allotted for our conversation. Mind you, as you’ll hear pretty quickly into the conversation, Jane has a memoir on the horizon, and once I heard her say, “There’ll be more in my upcoming book,” I knew that I might yield better results if I tended to ask about a few things that aren’t necessarily asked about on the regular, like working with Elizabeth Montgomery on The Awakening Land, or playing Jensen Ackles’ mother on Smallville, being friends with Johnny and June Carter Cash, or playing against Ian McKellen in The Scarlet Pimpernel. I also asked how she ended up having her home turned into a recording studio for Radiohead and the Cure, which resulted in a fun answer. But, yes, of course, we did still spend a few moments here and there on things like Live and Let Die, Battlestar Galactica, Somewhere in Time, Oh Heavenly Dog, and even the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders movie. Oh, yes, and she’d do a sequel to Dr. Quinn: Morphine Woman in a heartbeat. Okay, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Jane Seymour talk.

  2. 4d ago

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 42 - Bruce McGill (Lioness / Scooby-Doo: Origins / Animal House / Miami Vice / Rizzoli and Isles)

    This time, I’m letting Bruce McGill talk. I’ve talked to Bruce many times in the past, and it’s because he’s always got stories to tell. In fact, he’s got so many stories that I continue to try to talk him into letting me help him write his memoir. To date, it has not happened, but he says that if he does it, the only person he’d collaborate with is me, and by God, Bruce McGill is a man of his word. Bruce and I first talked when he was part of the cast of TNT’s Rizzoli and Isles, and he was so pleased with the end result of that interview that we’ve stayed in touch ever since. As such, I always knew that I wanted to have him as a guest on this podcast, but I wanted to wait until he had something to promote. And now he does: in addition to being part of the cast of the Paramount+ series Lioness – season three premieres on August 2 – he’s also part of the cast of Netflix’s upcoming Scooby-Doo: Origins. And while he obviously couldn’t tell me much more about the actual plot of the series beyond the fact that, yes, it’s an origin story, he did go into detail about the experience of filming it. I won’t claim that this is a fully comprehensive interview with Bruce, mostly because I’ve talked to him so many times over the years that we’ve tackled a lot of subjects, some of them more than once. But having said that, this is the first time you’ve actually been able to hear me talk to him, so I did touch on a few of the greatest hits, so to speak. So we talked a bit about Animal House, we talked about his iconic episode of Miami Vice, working with Michael Caine and Oliver Stone on The Hand, befriending Wilfred Brimley, doing one of his first films with an up-and-comer named Jonathan Demme, and much more. So, no, we didn’t hit on everything that folks asked me if I’d ask him about, mostly because you asked me to ask him about a LOT. But Bruce is always game for another conversation, so when Scooby-Doo: Origins is actually on the cusp of coming out, don’t be surprised if you hear from him again. And that’s “hear from him,” not “see him,” by the way. He’s old-school. He doesn’t love Zoom. He once said that he doesn’t turn on the camera unless he’s getting paid. Mostly I think he just doesn’t love screwing around with the computer. But, hey, he’s been in enough things that you already know what he looks like anyway. And that’s plenty enough of an intro. It’s time to let Bruce McGill talk.

  3. Jul 6

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 41 - Bill Lawrence (Scrubs / Ted Lasso / Shrinking / Bad Monkey / Rooster)

    Today I’m letting Bill Lawrence talk. I first interviewed Bill because of his ties to my area: he’s an alumnus of the College of William & Mary, which provided me with a local angle and an excuse to talk to him for The Virginian-Pilot. Or was the first time for PortFolio Weekly? Either way, I’ve known Bill Lawrence for quite some time at this point, and yet despite that, it somehow always surprises me that he still remembers me. But he does, in fact, remember me, and when I shot him a line on Facebook a few months back and suggested that he should do this podcast, he promptly wrote back and said, “Will, I’d be a bad guy if I didn’t.” The thing is, Bill Lawrence is a very busy man. But if you watch much TV, then you probably already knew that. You know him from SCRUBS, of course, but lately you might also know him for TED LASSO. Or perhaps SHRINKING. Or most recently for HBO’s ROOSTER. He’s also executive producer of BAD MONKEY. So as you might imagine, just because Bill’s willing to do your podcast doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily available to do your podcast. And when one of the reasons why he’s not available is because he’s busy directing the first episode of the next season of SHRINKING, then by God, you can accept that. And when you find yourself waiting for him to pop on the line for the interview and you discover that he’s still in the writers room and that he’s got a call scheduled for as soon as your interview is over, you start wondering if maybe this interview isn’t actually going to happen today after all. And that’s when Bill pops onto the Zoom call, and he’s ready and willing to talk up everything he’s got in the pipeline at the moment, things he’s done in the past that you might remember fondly, and he even offers up a George Clooney story that a) he realizes he’s never actually told before, and b) tells you that it makes him happy that he was able to tell it to you. So, yeah, long story short, Bill Lawrence is a pretty swell guy. And when you listen to this conversation, you’d never guess that it’d been years since the last time we actually talked, because he’s one of the best talkers in the business. Okay, that’s enough of an intro. It’s time to let Bill Lawrence talk.

  4. Jul 3

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 40 - Jamie Hector (The Wire / Bosch / Heroes / The Strain / Cape Fear / Wu-Tang Clan))

    This time I’m letting Jamie Hector talk. Funny thing is, I actually interviewed Jamie for the AV Club, even if I didn’t entirely remember it at first. In my defense, I’ve done so freaking many Random Roles interviews over the years that the relatively few non-Random Roles interviews I’ve done with actors often slip past me, although I really should’ve remembered the fact that I interviewed Marlo from the freakin’ WIRE! Yes, that’s right: Jamie played Marlo on HBO’s THE WIRE, and he so quickly became a defining figure of the series that you may not even remember that he wasn’t even an original cast member. These days his character is so closely associated with the show that Marlo came in at #2 on Rolling Stone’s Greatest TV Villains of All Time in 2016. That’s a pretty bad guy right there. Currently, however, Jamie back on the side of the good, playing Ray Rawlins on the Apple TV+ adaptation of CAPE FEAR, which continues to unfold until its 10th and final episode airs on July 31. And it’s not as if he wasn’t keeping busy between these projects, y’know. After THE WIRE, he stepped straight into an arc on HEROES, and he also did a stint on FX’s THE STRAIN. More recently, he’s been busy playing Jerry Edgar on BOSCH as well as reprising his role on the various spinoffs of the series. And we also talked about how exciting it was for him to appear in WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA, how he enjoyed the rare opportunity to do comedy in an episode of ARE WE THERE YET? (where he played a character named Arlo, which, y’know, probably just a coincidence), and oh, yes, we talked a lot about THE WIRE, too. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Jamie Hector talk.

  5. Jun 29

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 39 - Graham Parker (Howlin' Wind / Quality Footwear / Judd Apatow / This Is 40)

    This time, I’m letting Graham Parker talk. Graham is a singer-songwriter who’s been plying his trade since the ‘70s, steadily touring and regularly writing, recording, and releasing new music. He tends to get lumped in with such so-called “angry young men” as Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson, but as it happens, he was already out there with his debut album before either of those guys…and thanks to author Jay Nachman, there’s now a book that properly documents it. Appropriately, the book is called “Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind,” and Nachman had full access to Graham while he was putting it together…and, indeed, it was Nachman who helped set up this interview. We actually did it a few months ago, as you’ll be able to tell from a few remarks that he makes during the course of the conversation, but I wanted to hold off on releasing it until Graham released his latest live album, Quality Footwear (Live at the Brook), and it finds him teamed with his road-tested backing band, the Goldtops, as well as backing vocals from the Lady Bugs. The end result is 11 solid performances that are available now through the fine folks at Big Stir Records. So of course we talk about his live shows during our conversation, and we start off by doing a deep dive into his early years, including how he went through a prog period and his thoughts on being labeled “pub rock.” God forbid I should’ve actually asked him that question, but I did tell him that someone suggested that I ask him that question if I wanted it to be a short interview, and as a result I got a much more amusing answer than I know would’ve gotten if I’d asked it outright. Plus, I actually got to ask more questions afterwards rather than just receiving a flurry of obscenities I also asked him about some of the other records from throughout his career, including the one that got me started as a Graham Parker fan (the very ‘80s Steady Nerves), and I got him to regale me with the tale of how he got Bruce Springsteen to provide backing vocals for him. It’s a fun conversation that goes all over the place, but if you’ve ever been a Graham Parker fan, it’ll remind you to go back and listen to his music, and if you’ve never been a Graham Parker fan, well, hopefully this’ll be the kick in the ass you need to make you one. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Graham Parker talk.

  6. Jun 26

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 38 - Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink / Superman IV / Lex Luthor / Two and a Half Men)

    This time I’m letting Jon Cryer talk. I’ve interviewed Jon more than a few times over the course of the past decade or so, and  I’m always pleased to have a chance to talk to him again. That’s mostly because he’s a swell guy and we have a nice chemistry whenever we chat, but if I’m being honest, there’s always that little voice in the back of my head that’s going, “Dude, you’re talking to Duckie.” Yes, Jon Cryer was Duckie in PRETTY IN PINK, and he was arguably the most relatable movie character of my teenage years, the poster boy for guys who were perpetually enduring unrequited love. I mean, I once made a mix tape that started out with a snippet of dialogue that still echoes in my head even now…   “I love this woman, and I have to tell her…and if she laughs, she laughs…and if she doesn’t love me, then she doesn’t love me. But if I don’t find out… Oh, I love her too much!”   But Jon Cryer is about so much more than PRETTY IN PINK, obviously, which is why – although of course we talked about it – we talked about a wide range of topics during the course of our conversation, starting with his current endeavor: a production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, in which he plays Vice Principal Douglas Panch. As of this recording, you can catch him at the New World Stages – Stage 3, located at 340 West 50th Street in New York. So if you’re going to be in NYC this summer, check and see if tickets are available, because I have it on good authority that it is a hoot. Beyond that, we talked about his Broadway origins, how his movie HIDING OUT ended up having a duet between Roy Orbison and k.d. lang, why so few people saw MORGAN STEWART'S COMING HOME, how his big plans for a specific career arc led him from a punk rock western into what turned out to be the lowest-budgeted SUPERMAN movie ever, and how the latter experience kinda sorta resulted in him getting to play the baddest, baldest DC villain of them all. He also regaled me with stories of being up for Ferris Bueller, auditioning for BACK TO THE FUTURE, and not auditioning for RESERVOIR DOGS. And,  yes, we talked about PRETTY IN PINK, including his audition for Howard Deutch, his first meeting with John Hughes, how he and James Spader planned out their quote – fight scene – unquote, and, yes, how Duckie was robbed. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Jon Cryer talk.

  7. Jun 24

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 37 - Sally Timms (Mekons / Marc Almond / Pete Shelley / Cowboy Sally)

    This time I’m letting Sally Timms talk. Sally is a singer-songwriter who – since 1985 – has been a member and one of the lead singers of one of the longest-running bands to emerge during the UK punk explosion, even if it’s been quite a while since one would readily describe their sound as “punk.” She recorded her first album in 1980 with the help of Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks – if you’re curious about how it sounds, you’re in luck, because it’s out there for streaming – but even after she released that record, it still never occurred to her that she might actually end up pursuing a proper career in music. That situation changed after she joined the Mekons in ’85, but even then, she probably never imagined that she’d still be part of the band’s lineup more than 40 years later. Granted, the band’s tendency toward cult status means that she hasn’t always been able to make music her full-time career, but she’s certainly been continuing to make music ever since. Last year, the Mekons released HORROR, and this year they released an album of dub remixes called HORRORble (mekons v.s Tony Maimone in Dub Conference). If Tony’s name rings a bell, it’s because he’s a member of Pere Ubu, and he’s really transformed the songs in some unique ways. We talked about that collaboration, and we talked about some of Sally’s other work with the Mekons, too, of course, including the differences between major and indie label life and her thoughts about the documentary about the band. But beyond the Mekons, we also discussed her work with the Aluminum Group, her duet with Marc Almond, being Cowboy Sally, and even when she provided a voice for Cartoon Network’s Toonami. That’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Sally Timms talk.

  8. Jun 19

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 36 - Lukas Haas (Spider-Noir / Witness / Mars Attacks! / Criminal Minds / The Righteous Gemstones))

    This time I'm letting Lukas Haas talk. Lukas was still in single digits when he made his film debut, managed to make it through his teen years without succumbing to any sort of scandal, and is currently in the cast of a series that’s sitting at a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes…and that’s on both the Tomato-Meter and the Popcorn-Meter. Not bad for a guy who – given that he only just turned 50 a couple of months ago – ostensibly still has an awful lot of acting ahead of him. Lukas made his aforementioned film debut in the 1983 film TESTAMENT, starring alongside my former podcast guest Jane Alexander and our guest star on Jane’s episode, Ross Harris, who I met as a result of his work in AIRPLANE! When I told Jane that I was going to be talking to Lukas, I half-jokingly offered her the Zoom link, saying that if she was free at the time of recording, I’d love to have her do a pop-in. As it happened, she’d already gotten a better offer: at almost the same time as we were going to be recording, she was going to be doing a TESTAMENT panel with the film’s director, Lynne Littman. By an even more enjoyable coincidence, the panel ended up being moderated by another acquaintance of mine – fellow journalist Tim Grierson – so Letting Them Talk got a shout-out. What are the odds? I bring all of this up because, as you might expect, the first thing I mentioned to Lukas when he hopped on the call was that I’d had Jane as a guest and Ross as a guest star, and when I explained how Ross and I had first met, I discovered that Lukas is a huge AIRPLANE! fan himself. Instant bond achieved. And just as a quick sidebar, after the interview I texted Ross to tell him how well it had gone, and he wrote back, “Brilliant human. Just straight out of the gate an incredible artist.” And then after a few minutes, he added, “Okay, maybe his drawing needed work straight out of the gate…” And with that, Ross sent me a drawing that Lukas had done for him when they were working together on TESTAMENT. Naturally, I instantly wrote back and said, “Holy shit, can I post that when I release the episode?” He said, “Absolutely.” In other words, if you’re not currently subscribed to my Patreon or Substack, then you’re probably going to want to remedy that… Getting back to the episode, Lukas can currently be seen in SPIDER-NOIR on Prime Video, so of course we started out by discussing his work on the series with co-stars Nicolas Cage and Brendan Gleeson, but from there his whole career was fair game. Lukas admitted that he often found himself remembering more about his early work than his later work, so we talked about working with Harrison Ford on WITNESS without having any idea who he was at first (and then revealing the moment when he really figured it out), having Alex Rocco play his dad in THE LADY IN WHITE, roller-skating his way through SOLARBABIES, and having an amazing time working with Steven Spielberg. We discussed BRICK a bit, as well as CRIMINAL MINDS including the role he initially auditioned for on that series; how he basked in the big-budget bizarreness of MARS ATTACKS! and the more reasonably budgeted bizarreness of BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS; being on Broadway with Steve Martin and Robin Williams; getting a rare chance to do comedy on THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES; having a close encounter with Paul McCartney; and, yes, we even discuss RAMBLING ROSE and his feelings on how a particular scene probably wouldn’t play today…and why that’s not necessarily a good thing. Okay, I’m not sure I could possibly do any more teasing on this thing. It’s time to let Lukas Haas talk.

See All (43)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Longtime pop culture journalist Will Harris, perhaps best known for his work at the A.V. Club (or, more specifically, for his Random Roles interviews), finally embarks on a straightforward interview podcast, chatting with actors, writers, musicians, political pundits, comic book artists... The world is his oyster, and he's planning to make the most of it!

Information

You Might Also Like