Aug. 27, 2026
You need to tell an ex when you had a baby with Robert John Burke...
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RSS Feed We're catching up with phenomenal actor Robert John Burke (who you know from absolutely everything)! He's back as Miranda's boyfriend for some SEX in the City and we must get his answer to this question, did he deserve to know Miranda had a baby?
Plus, all the SEX threw his back out!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:01
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, and I want to know, are you a Charlotte?
00:00:09
Speaker 2: Hi, Kristen Davis.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hi, Robert John Burke.
00:00:12
Speaker 3: How are you?
00:00:13
Speaker 2: I'm good. How are you doing?
00:00:14
Speaker 1: I'm good. So let's go back.
00:00:16
Speaker 3: Let's go back because you have this very unique thing on our show where you play the same character and you come back. You are with Miranda before she has the baby. Then you come back after she has the baby, but she doesn't want to tell you she has the baby.
00:00:29
Speaker 1: And then you're like, I'm not a baby guy. So take me back in time.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: This would have been, let's see, in the year 2002, I think.
00:00:37
Speaker 1: Were they both or was one.
00:00:40
Speaker 3: earlier one might have been 2001 i feel like.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: No it was both of them were prior to 2001 i believe.
00:00:46
Speaker 3: Got it wow okay take me back take me back in your career what was it.
00:00:51
Speaker 2: Like you know i i had had uh i read for for sex in the city i got offers and i'm going to be truthful here i was trying to avoid the show oh I didn't want to be some, I'm going to just tell you, I didn't want to be some guy with some foible for the rest of my life. Oh, that's a good point. And I met Michael Patrick at a party with John Malfi and we were chatting, we were laughing about something or other. And then Walker Lewis came along. I'm like, what's his problem? They're like, he has no problem. And I'm like, tell me what his problem is. They're like, he doesn't have one. So it was ultimately to be with Miranda. And I said, yeah, okay, I would definitely do that. But then it became, yeah, it was fun. I had fun. It was very awkward. We had the two sex scenes. That was hilarious. We're in a hot studio. we're really simulating having, well, making love the second time. First time we was having sex. Right. And then I forget who the director was. They thought it would be funny to like shake the bed, you know, and she's screaming. And I was like, you know, after take 12, I said to one of the grips, like, what time is it? And he's like, it's, you know, we're on almost on the third hour. And I was like, you know, my back started to go out.
00:02:08
Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
00:02:09
Speaker 2: And obviously Cynthia was, just lovely. And we had fun, we had laughs. So it was it was painless.
00:02:17
Speaker 1: Good, good.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: And then so you had turned down previous guy roles, because you didn't want the you know, funky spunk or whatever.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: God only knows. Right.
00:02:28
Speaker 2: I get it.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: I get it. That's really interesting.
00:02:31
Speaker 3: You are the first guy who's ever told me this. I do know of other guys where I know that they turn things down, but I haven't convinced them to be on the podcast.
00:02:39
Speaker 1: I'm so glad we found a part for you. You know what I mean?
00:02:44
Speaker 2: Well, I just, I don't know that it's, uh, uh, it was just me personally. I just, you know, I, I took, uh, um, my third film was RoboCop three. And I had my representative at the time. I said, you know, I've done two classy independent films. Why are they seeing, you know, and we used to joke, it was like, uh, uh, I'm sorry. They're covering headshots like this. It's just seeing who can play the role. So I took RoboCop three and I, I somewhat regretted it. You know what I mean? Um, So I was going to be cautious for the rest of my, you know, time working as an actor, somewhat cautious anyway, but I just did not.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: You mean like typecasting, like action hero or villain?
00:03:31
Speaker 2: But just, you know, stuff that I wasn't really terribly comfortably with as a man or as an artist.
00:03:37
Speaker 1: Got it.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: And then, so when you look back on it, like, because sometimes with myself too, I remember different phases where I was like, I'm only going to do things totally different from Charlotte. But then you're just in like a weird, like reactionary kind of thing.
00:03:52
Speaker 1: You know, I think back of like the funny things I had in my mind.
00:03:55
Speaker 3: When you look back on your incredibly long career, like you've been in so many things and so many types of things. What do you think? Like, are you happy with your decisions? You know, because it's not easy.
00:04:07
Speaker 2: I'm one of those people. I like to work.
00:04:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: It's not like I said yes to everything.
00:04:13
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:04:14
Speaker 2: There were times when I turned stuff down that maybe I shouldn't have.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker 2: Um, and there were times I took stuff that maybe, but you know, who can know? Uh, uh, uh, I've been blessed. I've always worked with like really nice people.
00:04:26
Speaker 1: That's important.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: Beautiful people.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: For 20 years, I took care of my mom. So I was able to be in close proximity to New York city. Right. I would go from, uh, special victims unit, to gossip girl, to person of interest, get on a plane, do army wives, come back and started.
00:04:43
Speaker 1: Oh my God.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: Wow. And it was lucrative. It was fun. It was exciting. It kept the mix going, but I was able to be in proximity to where she was. And that was the consideration always at that time.
00:04:59
Speaker 1: Right.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: Before I had kids, it was Africa, Southeast Asia, Africa, Southeast Asia, Africa. I mean, I couldn't you know, six jobs in a row in one of those two countries. Wow. But then, you know, like, you know, when you travel, you're just like, you know, some power greater than myself has afforded me to be in this place and time with these people. It's just incredible when you get to see the world through our, um, uh, job. And, um, so yeah, I was always very lucky, but I do, I like to work and, um, And I played, like, lots of diverse stuff, which is fun.
00:05:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel like you've played everything. Like, it's been incredible. It's been incredible. It's funny, too, when you came on our show, because you're so recognizable, right? And I thought, well, wait, what's he playing? Because you have, like, the first time we see you, you have such an aura about you.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:05:53
Speaker 3: Like, I can tell, I feel like we are, like... you're set up almost like we're going to get more of you, right?
00:06:03
Speaker 1: Like it's an interesting part. It's not the regular guy. Do you know what I mean?
00:06:07
Speaker 3: Because you have, you have so much presence, I think like from the get go.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: He was a state department interpreter.
00:06:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: That's stacked.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: Totally. Yes. Yes.
00:06:17
Speaker 2: State department. I'd be okay with that. And then I wondered what, you know, what language do I interpret? Um, It was what it was.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: It was great, though. It was great.
00:06:31
Speaker 2: The narrative, I remember Carrie's like State Department interpreter, you know, and I was like, sounds somewhat intriguing.
00:06:37
Speaker 1: It sounds fully intriguing.
00:06:38
Speaker 3: Like you're quite the catch, you know, which is, I think that's what's interesting about it is that like, and I think Miranda had, if you were to look at all of us, she had the kind of most promising men in terms of like their jobs and their worlds and their intelligence.
00:06:53
Speaker 1: And I don't mean that in a bad way.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: And they're being an adult, you know, like non.
00:06:58
Speaker 3: Crazy adult exactly exactly and that's why it's sad when you don't work out the first.
00:07:03
Speaker 1: Time but then you come back which is so exciting.
00:07:06
Speaker 3: But then every you're just like oh lord she has a baby and she's pretending she doesn't it's insane but it makes sense that she would try to be insane for your character you know yeah i never.
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Was able to fully negotiate what was in a writer's mind especially on that show. Would I come back later as, you know, reenter her life?
00:07:30
Speaker 1: Why not? People do crazy things. And you're traveling. You're out, you know. Yeah, why not? I think you totally would. I think you totally would. But yes, I know what you're saying. You don't know.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: My time with Cynthia was just fantastic.
00:07:44
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. Of course. She's amazing.
00:07:47
Speaker 2: The episode was plus one is the loneliest number. Yes. Where Kim had the.
00:07:53
Speaker 1: The facial burn. What's it? The chemical burn. Oh, my God.
00:07:57
Speaker 2: With the mantilla veil, you know.
00:07:59
Speaker 1: I had forgotten.
00:07:59
Speaker 2: Hilarious.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: Hilarious.
00:08:02
Speaker 2: I did watch that episode and I thought that's. Really funny. Because it was at the onset of, you know, women having these peels and everything.
00:08:10
Speaker 1: And Botox.
00:08:11
Speaker 3: You know, she goes to the doctor with the Botox and it's like kind of a big deal. And now it's so funny because it's like incredibly common and nothing.
00:08:18
Speaker 2: Go to Costco and get Botox.
00:08:20
Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: Exactly. That was at the outset, I think, of, you know, women getting peels. And of course, you know, Miranda gets, you know, obviously extreme with it.
00:08:34
Speaker 1: Samantha.
00:08:35
Speaker 2: Samantha, rather, I'm sorry.
00:08:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's okay.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: It was a very funny episode.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: I know it was funny. It was interesting. I had forgotten.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: I met the part when we're in season five, Sarah's pregnant. We're trying to pretend she's not. We're trying to push through. We end up going on like a hiatus, you know, for the pregnancy because partly because in this particular episode, I think we hide it really well.
00:08:59
Speaker 1: But when she shows a.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: Little bit more, they would get her in an outfit where you could hide it.
00:09:05
Speaker 1: And then her shadow on the street would have a bump.
00:09:10
Speaker 2: The bow wasn't working anymore.
00:09:12
Speaker 3: Exactly, exactly, exactly. Which is, it's funny in retrospect. It wasn't really funny at the time, I think.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: No, because it's a huge consideration that the audience not, you know, I mean, she not be distracting from the storyline, obviously, or the project. Right. But yeah, no, she, you all, it was just such a phenomenon, such a force of nature that you guys, and I know, I've been on those streets grinding for years. You know, the text, the locations, the hours, you know, it's a grind.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: It's a grind, but it was fun.
00:09:47
Speaker 2: People don't know, but it's fun as hell, yeah.
00:09:48
Speaker 1: Right, right, right. No, people don't know for sure.
00:09:50
Speaker 3: And at the time, I remember we felt like we had to kind of like, I don't know, not exactly keep it a secret, but we didn't want to be seen as complaining anymore. I feel like back then people didn't know as much about production as they do now, you know, like pre-social media, right?
00:10:06
Speaker 1: So like people would say like, is it fun? You'd be like, yes.
00:10:09
Speaker 3: Like, you know, it's just nothing, you know, where literally we're working, you know, 18 hours all night long over and over and over and over and over.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: But it was fun also, right?
00:10:19
Speaker 2: It's both.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: It's both.
00:10:21
Speaker 3: What was the response like for you after you were on it? Because I mean, you've done so many amazing things, right? But was it, did it change?
00:10:28
Speaker 2: My greatest audience are my sisters and my wife, obviously. I remember when I came home from shooting that day and I stayed in the city that night and I came out to the beach and my wife's like, hi, how are you? How was it? I was like, it was really good. I said, my back is up though. And she's like, I was like, what is it? Cause she knew I had to simulate sex. I was like, oh, right. No, but it was, it was from that.
00:10:55
Speaker 1: I know it's hard to simulate sex. It's really challenging. It's strange.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: You know, when you're into your third hour and, and, and they think it's funny that you're just getting really super physical about it. Uh, yeah, it was, um, it wasn't, we, we just tried to make it as, um, comfortable for each other as possible. But, um, the response, um, I, you know, people say, oh, I saw you on sex, you know, um, are you coming back? Uh, that type of thing.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: Right.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: The, the normal, um, I saw you and it was funny. Um, are you coming back?
00:11:30
Speaker 3: Cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:31
Speaker 1: Regular. That's good.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: You, you were so you're, you're, you're obviously a lot of the guys that I, that I talked to that were like, you know, one or two times they weren't necessarily as established as yourself. Right. So it was like, and then also there's the ones that there was something wrong with them. And then everyone wants to shout that thing at them down the street. which I totally feel for them saying, I didn't really think of that at the time, but now I'm like, oh.
00:11:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, that, that, that is rough.
00:11:58
Speaker 2: That is rough.
00:11:59
Speaker 1: It is a consideration.
00:12:00
Speaker 3: I mean, I think also like there's so many actors and kind of theater actors who, you know, wanted to be on TV shows or whatever. And it was nice to be in the city and be able to do that, you know, for people.
00:12:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And I respect anybody who does, you know, whatever. And the other part of it is when, you know, you have a foible or something and you do it super well, you super lean in, you super commit.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:12:24
Speaker 2: I fucking respect the hell out of that. Totally. Yes. And serve the story.
00:12:36
Speaker 1: Definitely. Definitely. That it was a, it was a great thing.
00:12:40
Speaker 3: And it was so interesting to watch men come to do it because it was kind of like the girlfriend part that we're used to playing.
00:12:46
Speaker 2: Absolutely. The script was flipped and let's see you do it now, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So, and I think a lot of, you know, male actors were cognizant, cognizant of that. Yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: Me too. And I think it's great.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: Exercise and, you know, Well, power and placement and, you know, it was the right thing to let these four women just have at it, you know?
00:13:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was amazing. It's funny to think about it too now because... For a while, it seemed like the networks were like, oh, we want to do our version of Sex and the City. But they weren't able to because obviously they're the networks and they have advertisers and whatnot. But now I feel like there's a lot of younger shows like Mindy Kaling, you know, her show. I don't know what it's called now. There's a new one, but like the college girl one and now this one. you know, she's got shows where the women are younger and kind of trying to find themselves. And obviously there was girls and there was insecure on HBO, but there hasn't really been, I really thought that we were going to revolutionize television.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? But we didn't really, because I don't know that it was possible, you know?
00:13:54
Speaker 2: Well, your writing was so good.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:13:57
Speaker 2: It was so creative. It was so in your face. It was so different. They just switched. So different. You had no idea what, what was going to happen. And, and, and to sustain that, you know, really sustained because, you know, the slump of the second season or the third season, I don't think you guys experienced that.
00:14:14
Speaker 3: No, we didn't because, because, and I, I, so I watched our, the, the second one that you're in, which is plus one is the loneliest number, which is season five. And then I had to watch one for another guest that season six.
00:14:26
Speaker 1: And I, I have.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: Watched them all at the time, but I had never re-watched them all this 30 years or whatever, 28 years. So it's fascinating to look at because really there's each... There's like eras of the show, right? So in the beginning, we're talking to the camera. We've got those people on the street, the kind of trying to make the column come to life, which was, I think, the original idea.
00:14:49
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
00:14:49
Speaker 3: Remember?
00:14:50
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:14:50
Speaker 3: Different show, okay? Different show in a lot of ways, right? Our characters are the same, but the style different, the tone different. Then season three, season four, we kind of hit our stride. We've got the long storylines.
00:15:04
Speaker 1: You know, we've got the pulled out, you know, arcs. It's beautiful. Everything connects.
00:15:09
Speaker 2: Did they ever take you in and say, you know, pitch us on some type of arc here for you?
00:15:13
Speaker 1: Always, always.
00:15:15
Speaker 3: Michael Patrick was incredibly... inclusive of us and our ideas. And even we didn't have any title back then, only Sarah Jessica. She was a consultant at first, and then she moved her way up to executive producer, but the rest of us had no title at the time. And he's still every year before, like when they were doing the writer's room before we went back to work, he would.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: Kind of prep and have all these ideas.
00:15:39
Speaker 3: And then he would sit us down, run it by us and watch our faces to see like, what is the response to saying, and then, you know, from that, which was really interesting.
00:15:50
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:15:51
Speaker 1: We were incredibly lucky.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: I don't know what possessed me to ask that, but I, because to, because it's risk taking on his part and it's collaborative and all the things that we bullshit and talk about, but to actually do it, And then to strike that kismet and have that alchemy that makes the show iconic, that would make sense that he had done it. He took the process and really opened it up to you guys. That's fantastic to hear, yeah.
00:16:23
Speaker 3: It was amazing. It was amazing creatively, and it makes everything else somewhat pale in comparison, frankly. That's the downside.
00:16:32
Speaker 1: Exactly. For now. I mean, unless you're creating something, right?
00:16:35
Speaker 3: If you can create something, you can get people together and have it be like that.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: But obviously, we can't always be creating things.
00:16:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a hired gun. I don't really create.
00:16:43
Speaker 3: You don't? But when you go onto a set, because you've been literally, like, your list of credits is so incredible, and you have Digger coming up, which is, like, super exciting.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: I can't wait.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: I read for that for seven years. What? What? 2017, 20, 22, 24. I mean, you know, the project fell apart or he decided to do something else or this actor fell out and everything, but I kept reading for the same role. I'll spend the rest of my artistic life, I suppose, trying to synthesize and remember what happened in that process. It was so like, I went to an art college and was classically trained and we did all sorts of stuff and everything, but that was an exercise. So it was great. And I'm very excited for Tom cruise in the role uh it is uncanny at a certain point you just i remember just looking at him and and then on wednesdays he would show up without well as tom and uh and you'd be.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: Like wow on wednesdays he was okay this is very fascinating i can't.
00:17:49
Speaker 1: Say anymore okay okay.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: Okay John Goodman, fantastic. Riz Ahmed, just brilliant.
00:17:58
Speaker 1: Riz? What a cast.
00:18:01
Speaker 2: But we have no idea how it's going to piece together. Really? Yeah, because he shot a lot of films.
00:18:06
Speaker 1: Interesting. How long did you film for?
00:18:10
Speaker 2: Eight months.
00:18:11
Speaker 1: Wow, that's great. And so, okay.
00:18:15
Speaker 2: We rehearsed for weeks. What?
00:18:17
Speaker 1: Unheard of these days.
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:18:19
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:18:20
Speaker 2: You get five minutes to put it on its feet. Bring it in, boys. But this was a process that you just had to give over. We'd stop trying to second guess or figure it out or how is it going to piece together? Although I'm thinking about how is it going to piece together? Each scene that I'm in is like 25 minutes long, but there are 190 scenes in the movie. So how does that work? So I have no idea, but I'm very excited. And, you know, they've just contacted us about the premieres and stuff like that. So it should be fun.
00:18:52
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
00:18:53
Speaker 3: I'm even more excited than I already was. This is very fascinating.
00:18:57
Speaker 2: Alejandro and Chivo, Emmanuel Lubitsky, who shot it. Yeah.
00:19:02
Speaker 1: Oh, my God. So good.
00:19:14
Speaker 3: I feel at the point that we are now with our business, right? Things are so dicey and difficult always, right? Getting things greenlit, getting things made, getting people to see them. But, you know, to have this combination creatively, that's what we need, right?
00:19:30
Speaker 1: We need things that are different, that are creative.
00:19:32
Speaker 2: You know, we have this surge now, again, of the indie, you know, and the yellow door. And, you know, so I don't know, you know, obviously AI is like looming somehow. But a filmmaker who wants to tell a story is going to tell a story. And is it a lot to ask? ask that the story be a good story? Well, these days, more and more so, uh, uh, uh, to your point, like, you know, people trying to imitate sex in the city, the writing just doesn't hold up, uh, you know, sex in the city is writing. We'll just keep going. So, uh, With these independent stories being told, I think it's just super important not to be gimmicky. You're going to get outflanked with gimmicks. But that your story be compelling and just an interesting story. I don't want to belabor the point, but I think that there's going to be just another infusion of independent filmmakers coming along. Because there's a lot to talk about.
00:20:37
Speaker 1: I hope so. I hope so.
00:20:38
Speaker 3: I mean, that could be the silver lining of everything that our industry has been going through for the last, since COVID.
00:20:45
Speaker 2: It is.
00:20:46
Speaker 3: It's strange times, for sure. I mean, I just saw production the other day. Nancy Meyers is doing a film on the, basically, like, Ocean Boulevard.
00:20:55
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, thank God, production. Like, it's a miracle. I mean, it's insane.
00:21:01
Speaker 3: We're in Los Angeles, right? But, like, you just never see production anymore.
00:21:06
Speaker 2: It's crazy. Interesting. you know, did it become cost prohibitive? Did it become, I don't know.
00:21:10
Speaker 3: You know, our crazy tax situation, we have not had the incentive, I think, because Politically, it was difficult because the Northern California would be like, oh, they, you know, are so sick of hearing about Southern California. But it's such a driver of jobs for everyone.
00:21:25
Speaker 1: You know, people think of actors. No, it's not actors. It's restaurants. It's grips. It's, you know, catering.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: It's everybody.
00:21:33
Speaker 1: Literally everyone.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: Right. North Carolina, I was there when they closed and it sent a shockwave. I remember saying to somebody, well, will we finish production here? They closed the same day that the incentive got yanked. That's so sad. They're still upset about it, obviously. Everybody went to Atlanta or I forget where. New Orleans.
00:21:56
Speaker 1: New Mexico.
00:21:57
Speaker 3: New Orleans is big, but New Mexico has the big Netflix.
00:22:01
Speaker 2: I shot down there at the height of COVID. I shot a Netflix movie. That's a whole other story. The recording is a Facilities and everything were fantastic. It was just like I was sitting in a hotel room. There's no room service. There's nobody. There's sirens all night. It was just like when you were testing four times a week, you'd have to drive to the.
00:22:27
Speaker 1: It was bad.
00:22:28
Speaker 2: It was just this whole weirdness. I said, do I really want to do this now? But I just decided to get out of the house and go there and do it.
00:22:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:22:35
Speaker 3: I mean, we, we went back to work in New York for, and just like that. And we, we had to test every day and I had to test my children every day, you know, all the craziness, all the craziness, but we got through. And I mean, I was so, thankful to be, to be able to work, you know? And I think everybody like at that point, also all of the hair and makeup people who normally do photo shoots were just fully out of work. So we were able to get a bunch of them that.
00:22:59
Speaker 1: We knew into the union to, you.
00:23:02
Speaker 3: Know, have a, another income stream because there was like nothing.
00:23:06
Speaker 1: Like it was just decimated.
00:23:08
Speaker 2: So bad. It was bad. It was scary.
00:23:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker 2: Weirdness and a sadness. Yeah. Um, you know, and then, you know, not going, I, I always liked going into the room.
00:23:21
Speaker 1: Oh my God.
00:23:22
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:23:23
Speaker 2: And, uh, I never feared that. I always invited it. Um, uh, and to not be able to do that for me was just like, you know, the whole, I'm, I'm 60, I'll be 66. It's like being going on tape. It's like, I want to shoot myself. Uh, I have a son who, I have a son who, uh, is a filmed, uh, he was a film major. Oh. And so he, you know, bang, bang, bang. Um, So it's easier with him.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: That's nice. He's your DP.
00:23:51
Speaker 2: Totally. People have said to me like, Oh my God, this is really just like, it looks like a movie. So I'm very lucky to have him. He started to do acting. He's trained for a few years. It's like, I think I want to try him. So, um, and he's doing very well. He's done a couple of jobs. What's his name? his name is Liam Burke. He did, um, a Fox show called best medicine. He shot a Dexter a couple of weeks ago. Um, and, uh, then he just shot power, uh, as you know. Yeah. So he, he's a, he's a nice, he's a nice guy. He's a, he's a, he's a sweetheart. Um, and, uh, he's funny. Uh, So I'm very happy.
00:24:37
Speaker 1: Congratulations. That's so nice. That's so nice.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:24:41
Speaker 3: The thing that's interesting about this episode, I had forgotten Candace Bergen is in it.
00:24:46
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:24:47
Speaker 1: I mean, Amy, you know, blah, blah, blah.
00:24:50
Speaker 2: What's your name?
00:24:51
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Yes.
00:24:53
Speaker 3: We've got like so many people, so many people are in it. And I had fully forgotten the whole like kind of. scope of it that we've got bunny bunny my my Francis Sternhagen comes back to like give me a little speech you know I've forgotten I this re-watching this I did not know what was going to happen myself I didn't.
00:25:12
Speaker 2: Get to re-watch it I was just trying to like remember got it got it got it but I did watch both when when they came on and uh I I thought that you know when I watched them back at that time, I thought I was very, I was happy.
00:25:25
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, you were perfect.
00:25:28
Speaker 3: Like you were perfect to the point where it really leaves you thinking like, we've got to make this work somehow.
00:25:35
Speaker 1: That's what I thought.
00:25:36
Speaker 2: But you know, when we go in as an actor to a production and it's, um, uh, just a quick story. When I, when I auditioned four times for special victims unit. Wow. No, no, no. And I'm like, why do I have You know, oh, he's Irish. He's a detective.
00:25:51
Speaker 3: No.
00:25:52
Speaker 2: What? We want to keep him with something better. And you're like, oh, Lord. And then I did 30 episodes with him over the years.
00:26:00
Speaker 1: Wow. So it worked out.
00:26:01
Speaker 2: I mean, Rish is a boyfriend on the show. Wow. So when you do arrive, you want to be so prepared and gracious and professional and set your hooks, you know. uh, I'm a viable business entity, acting, schmacting, it's art. I'm going to have a good day or a bad day. I never care about that, but will I show up on time prepared? So when I was with sex in the city, uh, I just wanted to be super ready to go and relaxed. And, um, and Cynthia again was just so much fun. And so, you know, professional to work with and, and, uh, And yeah, so did I want to come back? Sure.
00:26:39
Speaker 1: Did they call me?
00:26:42
Speaker 2: No. Oh. Yeah, no, it was fine. I was very happy with what had happened. Because sometimes, you know, you show up and you're like, mm-hmm. Or they used a weird take or whatever it is. Yeah. But I was pretty pleased about the way it turned out.
00:26:57
Speaker 3: When you did the first one, did you know you were going to come back for the second one?
00:27:01
Speaker 1: Or that was just a surprise?
00:27:02
Speaker 2: No. No, it was... There was no... In my memory, recollection, there was no talk of a two-episode arc or anything like that. It was just, hi, we'd like to, yeah, okay. Because it was such a tag at the end. Mommy's coming. No, she's not.
00:27:21
Speaker 1: I know.
00:27:24
Speaker 2: So no, that was it. I thought it would only be the one episode.
00:27:40
Speaker 1: That is what's so interesting. And I think it's because of your....
00:27:45
Speaker 3: Attitude, your, you know, what you bring into your work that when we first see you in the first episode, the good fight that you, you're just like a complete being where you're like, well, yes, he's perfect for her.
00:27:58
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
00:27:59
Speaker 3: Like, and I don't normally think that so often, but also then you're just like, well, we want more, we want more. And then you show back up, which is so great because obviously Michael Patrick felt the same way. And Michael Patrick directs the second one, which is, must've been really fun.
00:28:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was great.
00:28:14
Speaker 1: He's so great.
00:28:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I met his mom somewhere. Oh, yeah. She's like this old Irish woman.
00:28:21
Speaker 1: She's incredible, yeah. She's not with us anymore.
00:28:23
Speaker 2: Both of my parents were from Ireland. I was like, where's my mother from? And I can't remember where his mother was from. And so then automatically we know we've had something of the same.
00:28:31
Speaker 1: Yes, yes.
00:28:33
Speaker 3: You're very, you've got the vibe that he shares, you know, like that.
00:28:39
Speaker 2: Who knows if it's madness or creativity or what it is.
00:28:42
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:28:43
Speaker 2: I really liked him. In our business, sometimes you know you're in the presence of somebody who's a super creative and a kind person, a funny person.
00:28:53
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:28:54
Speaker 2: And they get the job done so well.
00:28:57
Speaker 1: Yes, yes.
00:28:58
Speaker 2: That was him. And I don't know if it's from my childhood or the rhythms I possess as a human, but you don't want to let somebody like that down.
00:29:07
Speaker 1: Oh, that is so well put. That is so well put. And that's not always the case, right?
00:29:11
Speaker 2: I mean, the whole production, per se. Definitely.
00:29:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:29:16
Speaker 3: Everyone was very intense and good at their job and super.
00:29:21
Speaker 1: Into it, right?
00:29:23
Speaker 3: Like, sometimes people would argue and, you know, people would, you know, make drama out of it or whatever, but it was because everyone cared so much.
00:29:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:29:32
Speaker 3: And that's not always the case, which sounds strange to say, but like sometimes people are like, oh, it's fine. Like no one in the Sex in the city world would ever say like, oh, it's fine. They'd be like, no, we can make it better.
00:29:42
Speaker 1: Let's do this. Let's do that. Let's keep going. Let's do another take.
00:29:46
Speaker 3: Let's, you know, that, that costume needs to be a little tighter, you know, whatever, all the different.
00:29:50
Speaker 2: Details, you know. I, I worked on rescue me for seven years. It was just the opposite. It was like, you know, cut, we're moving on. I'm like, bro, can I have one more? One more. You just did a take, but I only did one. You're fucking Marlon Brando. That's what they would say to you. Who are you? Marlon Brando. You're not getting two takes. Let's go. And it was like, but, but it was always good product.
00:30:13
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I didn't really watch that show.
00:30:16
Speaker 3: Right.
00:30:17
Speaker 1: Right.
00:30:17
Speaker 2: The other thing too, is that on sex in the city, you guys were like, when I got there, it was, you were, you were iconic. You were established. And, you know, going in as a guest, you're intimidated, you're nervous, you're anxious to do it right, to do it well. But everybody there was so cool. And I'd known a lot of the crew from over the years and stuff like that.
00:30:41
Speaker 1: Our crew was amazing.
00:30:42
Speaker 2: Cynthia was my key focus.
00:30:46
Speaker 1: Right, of course.
00:30:47
Speaker 2: It was easy to sustain, you know, play with her. Yeah.
00:30:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:30:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:30:53
Speaker 1: She's the best. She's amazing to play with.
00:30:55
Speaker 3: And I think she has the thing about her, which is I think different from the rest of us.
00:31:00
Speaker 1: She has no vanity. Right.
00:31:03
Speaker 3: So like the sex scene, she's just like, whatever.
00:31:05
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Like I would always be worried. This is before intimacy coordinators. Right. I would always be concerned. Like who's going to take care of Cynthia.
00:31:14
Speaker 3: Oh Lord.
00:31:15
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Because she'd just be like, whatever.
00:31:17
Speaker 3: You know, like one time Cynthia, She was doing something and her feet were like so dirty. Cause you know, when you do a sex scene and you're having to walk around the set and the set is not an actual bedroom, right?
00:31:26
Speaker 1: It's like a set with.
00:31:27
Speaker 3: Like sawdust and exactly like construction, you know, and no one's taking care of her feet.
00:31:34
Speaker 2: Right.
00:31:34
Speaker 1: So her feet are so dirty, but they're like right in the camera. Do you know what I mean?
00:31:39
Speaker 3: I was like, someone take care of Cynthia's feet. These are the things I.
00:31:42
Speaker 1: Used to worry about.
00:31:45
Speaker 2: Well, listen, they're to be worried about their considerations. Like, hey, I love that scene. Why were your feet dirty?
00:31:51
Speaker 3: Exactly right.
00:31:52
Speaker 1: She personally didn't care, though, which is part of her charm. You know what I'm saying? She's like a just a full.
00:31:58
Speaker 2: Let's say fair. It's fine. Let's go.
00:32:00
Speaker 1: Exactly.
00:32:01
Speaker 3: She's about like the acting, not the how do I look, you know, which is.
00:32:05
Speaker 1: A wonderful thing to be around.
00:32:06
Speaker 2: Right.
00:32:07
Speaker 1: For me, you know, I'm like, Oh yeah, we've got it. We've got to let go. We've got to let go.
00:32:11
Speaker 2: Believe me, I'm going to cop too. I worry about like how things look also.
00:32:15
Speaker 1: So it's not like, thank you. Thank you.
00:32:16
Speaker 3: I know.
00:32:17
Speaker 1: I mean, actors do too, right? Like male actors. You're not, why not? It's a visual medium. You know what I'm saying?
00:32:23
Speaker 2: Moving pictures. So the picture has to be, you know, the way it ought to be.
00:32:28
Speaker 1: So absolutely. Absolutely. Well, you're a joy. Thank you so much for being with us.
00:32:33
Speaker 2: I was nervous. I was like, Oh my God, I don't remember anything.
00:32:38
Speaker 1: Oh my God. No, you're fantastic. You're such a great storyteller.
00:32:41
Speaker 3: And I'm so excited for Digger and all of your, I mean, like you're super fascinating. And I love to meet actors like yourself who have created, you know, this list of incredible credits over so much time, but also lived an incredible life.
00:32:56
Speaker 1: Like it's, it's a joy.
00:32:58
Speaker 2: Well, back at you, Christian and your work is just global. Yeah. I go with like five blocks from here to help.
00:33:08
Speaker 1: Them, but, uh, it's still good.
00:33:10
Speaker 2: Look, your character on the show, there was just such a kismet between all four of you.
00:33:18
Speaker 1: Thank you. We lucked out. We really did.
00:33:20
Speaker 2: You know what you were, you were all generous with each other, uh, just in terms of who had, you know, passing the ball and stuff like that. And it was always a pleasure to, to watch that kind of play.
00:33:30
Speaker 1: Isn't that so nice. It's so nice to be part of that.
00:33:33
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't happen a lot.
00:33:35
Speaker 3: It's true.
00:33:36
Speaker 1: It's so true.
00:33:38
Speaker 2: It's so, so true for having me.
00:33:41
Speaker 1: It's our pleasure. We love to have the special men on. It's wonderful. Well, thank you. We'll be watching. I can't wait to see digger and all of your other things.
00:33:51
Speaker 2: Thanks. Okay. Bye.
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, and I want to know, are you a Charlotte?
00:00:09
Speaker 2: Hi, Kristen Davis.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hi, Robert John Burke.
00:00:12
Speaker 3: How are you?
00:00:13
Speaker 2: I'm good. How are you doing?
00:00:14
Speaker 1: I'm good. So let's go back.
00:00:16
Speaker 3: Let's go back because you have this very unique thing on our show where you play the same character and you come back. You are with Miranda before she has the baby. Then you come back after she has the baby, but she doesn't want to tell you she has the baby.
00:00:29
Speaker 1: And then you're like, I'm not a baby guy. So take me back in time.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: This would have been, let's see, in the year 2002, I think.
00:00:37
Speaker 1: Were they both or was one.
00:00:40
Speaker 3: earlier one might have been 2001 i feel like.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: No it was both of them were prior to 2001 i believe.
00:00:46
Speaker 3: Got it wow okay take me back take me back in your career what was it.
00:00:51
Speaker 2: Like you know i i had had uh i read for for sex in the city i got offers and i'm going to be truthful here i was trying to avoid the show oh I didn't want to be some, I'm going to just tell you, I didn't want to be some guy with some foible for the rest of my life. Oh, that's a good point. And I met Michael Patrick at a party with John Malfi and we were chatting, we were laughing about something or other. And then Walker Lewis came along. I'm like, what's his problem? They're like, he has no problem. And I'm like, tell me what his problem is. They're like, he doesn't have one. So it was ultimately to be with Miranda. And I said, yeah, okay, I would definitely do that. But then it became, yeah, it was fun. I had fun. It was very awkward. We had the two sex scenes. That was hilarious. We're in a hot studio. we're really simulating having, well, making love the second time. First time we was having sex. Right. And then I forget who the director was. They thought it would be funny to like shake the bed, you know, and she's screaming. And I was like, you know, after take 12, I said to one of the grips, like, what time is it? And he's like, it's, you know, we're on almost on the third hour. And I was like, you know, my back started to go out.
00:02:08
Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
00:02:09
Speaker 2: And obviously Cynthia was, just lovely. And we had fun, we had laughs. So it was it was painless.
00:02:17
Speaker 1: Good, good.
00:02:18
Speaker 3: And then so you had turned down previous guy roles, because you didn't want the you know, funky spunk or whatever.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: God only knows. Right.
00:02:28
Speaker 2: I get it.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: I get it. That's really interesting.
00:02:31
Speaker 3: You are the first guy who's ever told me this. I do know of other guys where I know that they turn things down, but I haven't convinced them to be on the podcast.
00:02:39
Speaker 1: I'm so glad we found a part for you. You know what I mean?
00:02:44
Speaker 2: Well, I just, I don't know that it's, uh, uh, it was just me personally. I just, you know, I, I took, uh, um, my third film was RoboCop three. And I had my representative at the time. I said, you know, I've done two classy independent films. Why are they seeing, you know, and we used to joke, it was like, uh, uh, I'm sorry. They're covering headshots like this. It's just seeing who can play the role. So I took RoboCop three and I, I somewhat regretted it. You know what I mean? Um, So I was going to be cautious for the rest of my, you know, time working as an actor, somewhat cautious anyway, but I just did not.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: You mean like typecasting, like action hero or villain?
00:03:31
Speaker 2: But just, you know, stuff that I wasn't really terribly comfortably with as a man or as an artist.
00:03:37
Speaker 1: Got it.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: And then, so when you look back on it, like, because sometimes with myself too, I remember different phases where I was like, I'm only going to do things totally different from Charlotte. But then you're just in like a weird, like reactionary kind of thing.
00:03:52
Speaker 1: You know, I think back of like the funny things I had in my mind.
00:03:55
Speaker 3: When you look back on your incredibly long career, like you've been in so many things and so many types of things. What do you think? Like, are you happy with your decisions? You know, because it's not easy.
00:04:07
Speaker 2: I'm one of those people. I like to work.
00:04:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: It's not like I said yes to everything.
00:04:13
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:04:14
Speaker 2: There were times when I turned stuff down that maybe I shouldn't have.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker 2: Um, and there were times I took stuff that maybe, but you know, who can know? Uh, uh, uh, I've been blessed. I've always worked with like really nice people.
00:04:26
Speaker 1: That's important.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: Beautiful people.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: For 20 years, I took care of my mom. So I was able to be in close proximity to New York city. Right. I would go from, uh, special victims unit, to gossip girl, to person of interest, get on a plane, do army wives, come back and started.
00:04:43
Speaker 1: Oh my God.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: Wow. And it was lucrative. It was fun. It was exciting. It kept the mix going, but I was able to be in proximity to where she was. And that was the consideration always at that time.
00:04:59
Speaker 1: Right.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: Before I had kids, it was Africa, Southeast Asia, Africa, Southeast Asia, Africa. I mean, I couldn't you know, six jobs in a row in one of those two countries. Wow. But then, you know, like, you know, when you travel, you're just like, you know, some power greater than myself has afforded me to be in this place and time with these people. It's just incredible when you get to see the world through our, um, uh, job. And, um, so yeah, I was always very lucky, but I do, I like to work and, um, And I played, like, lots of diverse stuff, which is fun.
00:05:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel like you've played everything. Like, it's been incredible. It's been incredible. It's funny, too, when you came on our show, because you're so recognizable, right? And I thought, well, wait, what's he playing? Because you have, like, the first time we see you, you have such an aura about you.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:05:53
Speaker 3: Like, I can tell, I feel like we are, like... you're set up almost like we're going to get more of you, right?
00:06:03
Speaker 1: Like it's an interesting part. It's not the regular guy. Do you know what I mean?
00:06:07
Speaker 3: Because you have, you have so much presence, I think like from the get go.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: He was a state department interpreter.
00:06:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:06:14
Speaker 2: That's stacked.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: Totally. Yes. Yes.
00:06:17
Speaker 2: State department. I'd be okay with that. And then I wondered what, you know, what language do I interpret? Um, It was what it was.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: It was great, though. It was great.
00:06:31
Speaker 2: The narrative, I remember Carrie's like State Department interpreter, you know, and I was like, sounds somewhat intriguing.
00:06:37
Speaker 1: It sounds fully intriguing.
00:06:38
Speaker 3: Like you're quite the catch, you know, which is, I think that's what's interesting about it is that like, and I think Miranda had, if you were to look at all of us, she had the kind of most promising men in terms of like their jobs and their worlds and their intelligence.
00:06:53
Speaker 1: And I don't mean that in a bad way.
00:06:54
Speaker 2: And they're being an adult, you know, like non.
00:06:58
Speaker 3: Crazy adult exactly exactly and that's why it's sad when you don't work out the first.
00:07:03
Speaker 1: Time but then you come back which is so exciting.
00:07:06
Speaker 3: But then every you're just like oh lord she has a baby and she's pretending she doesn't it's insane but it makes sense that she would try to be insane for your character you know yeah i never.
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Was able to fully negotiate what was in a writer's mind especially on that show. Would I come back later as, you know, reenter her life?
00:07:30
Speaker 1: Why not? People do crazy things. And you're traveling. You're out, you know. Yeah, why not? I think you totally would. I think you totally would. But yes, I know what you're saying. You don't know.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: My time with Cynthia was just fantastic.
00:07:44
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. Of course. She's amazing.
00:07:47
Speaker 2: The episode was plus one is the loneliest number. Yes. Where Kim had the.
00:07:53
Speaker 1: The facial burn. What's it? The chemical burn. Oh, my God.
00:07:57
Speaker 2: With the mantilla veil, you know.
00:07:59
Speaker 1: I had forgotten.
00:07:59
Speaker 2: Hilarious.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: Hilarious.
00:08:02
Speaker 2: I did watch that episode and I thought that's. Really funny. Because it was at the onset of, you know, women having these peels and everything.
00:08:10
Speaker 1: And Botox.
00:08:11
Speaker 3: You know, she goes to the doctor with the Botox and it's like kind of a big deal. And now it's so funny because it's like incredibly common and nothing.
00:08:18
Speaker 2: Go to Costco and get Botox.
00:08:20
Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: Exactly. That was at the outset, I think, of, you know, women getting peels. And of course, you know, Miranda gets, you know, obviously extreme with it.
00:08:34
Speaker 1: Samantha.
00:08:35
Speaker 2: Samantha, rather, I'm sorry.
00:08:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's okay.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: It was a very funny episode.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: I know it was funny. It was interesting. I had forgotten.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: I met the part when we're in season five, Sarah's pregnant. We're trying to pretend she's not. We're trying to push through. We end up going on like a hiatus, you know, for the pregnancy because partly because in this particular episode, I think we hide it really well.
00:08:59
Speaker 1: But when she shows a.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: Little bit more, they would get her in an outfit where you could hide it.
00:09:05
Speaker 1: And then her shadow on the street would have a bump.
00:09:10
Speaker 2: The bow wasn't working anymore.
00:09:12
Speaker 3: Exactly, exactly, exactly. Which is, it's funny in retrospect. It wasn't really funny at the time, I think.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: No, because it's a huge consideration that the audience not, you know, I mean, she not be distracting from the storyline, obviously, or the project. Right. But yeah, no, she, you all, it was just such a phenomenon, such a force of nature that you guys, and I know, I've been on those streets grinding for years. You know, the text, the locations, the hours, you know, it's a grind.
00:09:45
Speaker 1: It's a grind, but it was fun.
00:09:47
Speaker 2: People don't know, but it's fun as hell, yeah.
00:09:48
Speaker 1: Right, right, right. No, people don't know for sure.
00:09:50
Speaker 3: And at the time, I remember we felt like we had to kind of like, I don't know, not exactly keep it a secret, but we didn't want to be seen as complaining anymore. I feel like back then people didn't know as much about production as they do now, you know, like pre-social media, right?
00:10:06
Speaker 1: So like people would say like, is it fun? You'd be like, yes.
00:10:09
Speaker 3: Like, you know, it's just nothing, you know, where literally we're working, you know, 18 hours all night long over and over and over and over and over.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: But it was fun also, right?
00:10:19
Speaker 2: It's both.
00:10:20
Speaker 1: It's both.
00:10:21
Speaker 3: What was the response like for you after you were on it? Because I mean, you've done so many amazing things, right? But was it, did it change?
00:10:28
Speaker 2: My greatest audience are my sisters and my wife, obviously. I remember when I came home from shooting that day and I stayed in the city that night and I came out to the beach and my wife's like, hi, how are you? How was it? I was like, it was really good. I said, my back is up though. And she's like, I was like, what is it? Cause she knew I had to simulate sex. I was like, oh, right. No, but it was, it was from that.
00:10:55
Speaker 1: I know it's hard to simulate sex. It's really challenging. It's strange.
00:11:01
Speaker 2: You know, when you're into your third hour and, and, and they think it's funny that you're just getting really super physical about it. Uh, yeah, it was, um, it wasn't, we, we just tried to make it as, um, comfortable for each other as possible. But, um, the response, um, I, you know, people say, oh, I saw you on sex, you know, um, are you coming back? Uh, that type of thing.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: Right.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: The, the normal, um, I saw you and it was funny. Um, are you coming back?
00:11:30
Speaker 3: Cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:31
Speaker 1: Regular. That's good.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: You, you were so you're, you're, you're obviously a lot of the guys that I, that I talked to that were like, you know, one or two times they weren't necessarily as established as yourself. Right. So it was like, and then also there's the ones that there was something wrong with them. And then everyone wants to shout that thing at them down the street. which I totally feel for them saying, I didn't really think of that at the time, but now I'm like, oh.
00:11:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, that, that, that is rough.
00:11:58
Speaker 2: That is rough.
00:11:59
Speaker 1: It is a consideration.
00:12:00
Speaker 3: I mean, I think also like there's so many actors and kind of theater actors who, you know, wanted to be on TV shows or whatever. And it was nice to be in the city and be able to do that, you know, for people.
00:12:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And I respect anybody who does, you know, whatever. And the other part of it is when, you know, you have a foible or something and you do it super well, you super lean in, you super commit.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:12:24
Speaker 2: I fucking respect the hell out of that. Totally. Yes. And serve the story.
00:12:36
Speaker 1: Definitely. Definitely. That it was a, it was a great thing.
00:12:40
Speaker 3: And it was so interesting to watch men come to do it because it was kind of like the girlfriend part that we're used to playing.
00:12:46
Speaker 2: Absolutely. The script was flipped and let's see you do it now, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So, and I think a lot of, you know, male actors were cognizant, cognizant of that. Yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker 1: Me too. And I think it's great.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: Exercise and, you know, Well, power and placement and, you know, it was the right thing to let these four women just have at it, you know?
00:13:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was amazing. It's funny to think about it too now because... For a while, it seemed like the networks were like, oh, we want to do our version of Sex and the City. But they weren't able to because obviously they're the networks and they have advertisers and whatnot. But now I feel like there's a lot of younger shows like Mindy Kaling, you know, her show. I don't know what it's called now. There's a new one, but like the college girl one and now this one. you know, she's got shows where the women are younger and kind of trying to find themselves. And obviously there was girls and there was insecure on HBO, but there hasn't really been, I really thought that we were going to revolutionize television.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? But we didn't really, because I don't know that it was possible, you know?
00:13:54
Speaker 2: Well, your writing was so good.
00:13:56
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:13:57
Speaker 2: It was so creative. It was so in your face. It was so different. They just switched. So different. You had no idea what, what was going to happen. And, and, and to sustain that, you know, really sustained because, you know, the slump of the second season or the third season, I don't think you guys experienced that.
00:14:14
Speaker 3: No, we didn't because, because, and I, I, so I watched our, the, the second one that you're in, which is plus one is the loneliest number, which is season five. And then I had to watch one for another guest that season six.
00:14:26
Speaker 1: And I, I have.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: Watched them all at the time, but I had never re-watched them all this 30 years or whatever, 28 years. So it's fascinating to look at because really there's each... There's like eras of the show, right? So in the beginning, we're talking to the camera. We've got those people on the street, the kind of trying to make the column come to life, which was, I think, the original idea.
00:14:49
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
00:14:49
Speaker 3: Remember?
00:14:50
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:14:50
Speaker 3: Different show, okay? Different show in a lot of ways, right? Our characters are the same, but the style different, the tone different. Then season three, season four, we kind of hit our stride. We've got the long storylines.
00:15:04
Speaker 1: You know, we've got the pulled out, you know, arcs. It's beautiful. Everything connects.
00:15:09
Speaker 2: Did they ever take you in and say, you know, pitch us on some type of arc here for you?
00:15:13
Speaker 1: Always, always.
00:15:15
Speaker 3: Michael Patrick was incredibly... inclusive of us and our ideas. And even we didn't have any title back then, only Sarah Jessica. She was a consultant at first, and then she moved her way up to executive producer, but the rest of us had no title at the time. And he's still every year before, like when they were doing the writer's room before we went back to work, he would.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: Kind of prep and have all these ideas.
00:15:39
Speaker 3: And then he would sit us down, run it by us and watch our faces to see like, what is the response to saying, and then, you know, from that, which was really interesting.
00:15:50
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:15:51
Speaker 1: We were incredibly lucky.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: I don't know what possessed me to ask that, but I, because to, because it's risk taking on his part and it's collaborative and all the things that we bullshit and talk about, but to actually do it, And then to strike that kismet and have that alchemy that makes the show iconic, that would make sense that he had done it. He took the process and really opened it up to you guys. That's fantastic to hear, yeah.
00:16:23
Speaker 3: It was amazing. It was amazing creatively, and it makes everything else somewhat pale in comparison, frankly. That's the downside.
00:16:32
Speaker 1: Exactly. For now. I mean, unless you're creating something, right?
00:16:35
Speaker 3: If you can create something, you can get people together and have it be like that.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: But obviously, we can't always be creating things.
00:16:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a hired gun. I don't really create.
00:16:43
Speaker 3: You don't? But when you go onto a set, because you've been literally, like, your list of credits is so incredible, and you have Digger coming up, which is, like, super exciting.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: I can't wait.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: I read for that for seven years. What? What? 2017, 20, 22, 24. I mean, you know, the project fell apart or he decided to do something else or this actor fell out and everything, but I kept reading for the same role. I'll spend the rest of my artistic life, I suppose, trying to synthesize and remember what happened in that process. It was so like, I went to an art college and was classically trained and we did all sorts of stuff and everything, but that was an exercise. So it was great. And I'm very excited for Tom cruise in the role uh it is uncanny at a certain point you just i remember just looking at him and and then on wednesdays he would show up without well as tom and uh and you'd be.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: Like wow on wednesdays he was okay this is very fascinating i can't.
00:17:49
Speaker 1: Say anymore okay okay.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: Okay John Goodman, fantastic. Riz Ahmed, just brilliant.
00:17:58
Speaker 1: Riz? What a cast.
00:18:01
Speaker 2: But we have no idea how it's going to piece together. Really? Yeah, because he shot a lot of films.
00:18:06
Speaker 1: Interesting. How long did you film for?
00:18:10
Speaker 2: Eight months.
00:18:11
Speaker 1: Wow, that's great. And so, okay.
00:18:15
Speaker 2: We rehearsed for weeks. What?
00:18:17
Speaker 1: Unheard of these days.
00:18:18
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:18:19
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:18:20
Speaker 2: You get five minutes to put it on its feet. Bring it in, boys. But this was a process that you just had to give over. We'd stop trying to second guess or figure it out or how is it going to piece together? Although I'm thinking about how is it going to piece together? Each scene that I'm in is like 25 minutes long, but there are 190 scenes in the movie. So how does that work? So I have no idea, but I'm very excited. And, you know, they've just contacted us about the premieres and stuff like that. So it should be fun.
00:18:52
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
00:18:53
Speaker 3: I'm even more excited than I already was. This is very fascinating.
00:18:57
Speaker 2: Alejandro and Chivo, Emmanuel Lubitsky, who shot it. Yeah.
00:19:02
Speaker 1: Oh, my God. So good.
00:19:14
Speaker 3: I feel at the point that we are now with our business, right? Things are so dicey and difficult always, right? Getting things greenlit, getting things made, getting people to see them. But, you know, to have this combination creatively, that's what we need, right?
00:19:30
Speaker 1: We need things that are different, that are creative.
00:19:32
Speaker 2: You know, we have this surge now, again, of the indie, you know, and the yellow door. And, you know, so I don't know, you know, obviously AI is like looming somehow. But a filmmaker who wants to tell a story is going to tell a story. And is it a lot to ask? ask that the story be a good story? Well, these days, more and more so, uh, uh, uh, to your point, like, you know, people trying to imitate sex in the city, the writing just doesn't hold up, uh, you know, sex in the city is writing. We'll just keep going. So, uh, With these independent stories being told, I think it's just super important not to be gimmicky. You're going to get outflanked with gimmicks. But that your story be compelling and just an interesting story. I don't want to belabor the point, but I think that there's going to be just another infusion of independent filmmakers coming along. Because there's a lot to talk about.
00:20:37
Speaker 1: I hope so. I hope so.
00:20:38
Speaker 3: I mean, that could be the silver lining of everything that our industry has been going through for the last, since COVID.
00:20:45
Speaker 2: It is.
00:20:46
Speaker 3: It's strange times, for sure. I mean, I just saw production the other day. Nancy Meyers is doing a film on the, basically, like, Ocean Boulevard.
00:20:55
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, thank God, production. Like, it's a miracle. I mean, it's insane.
00:21:01
Speaker 3: We're in Los Angeles, right? But, like, you just never see production anymore.
00:21:06
Speaker 2: It's crazy. Interesting. you know, did it become cost prohibitive? Did it become, I don't know.
00:21:10
Speaker 3: You know, our crazy tax situation, we have not had the incentive, I think, because Politically, it was difficult because the Northern California would be like, oh, they, you know, are so sick of hearing about Southern California. But it's such a driver of jobs for everyone.
00:21:25
Speaker 1: You know, people think of actors. No, it's not actors. It's restaurants. It's grips. It's, you know, catering.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: It's everybody.
00:21:33
Speaker 1: Literally everyone.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: Right. North Carolina, I was there when they closed and it sent a shockwave. I remember saying to somebody, well, will we finish production here? They closed the same day that the incentive got yanked. That's so sad. They're still upset about it, obviously. Everybody went to Atlanta or I forget where. New Orleans.
00:21:56
Speaker 1: New Mexico.
00:21:57
Speaker 3: New Orleans is big, but New Mexico has the big Netflix.
00:22:01
Speaker 2: I shot down there at the height of COVID. I shot a Netflix movie. That's a whole other story. The recording is a Facilities and everything were fantastic. It was just like I was sitting in a hotel room. There's no room service. There's nobody. There's sirens all night. It was just like when you were testing four times a week, you'd have to drive to the.
00:22:27
Speaker 1: It was bad.
00:22:28
Speaker 2: It was just this whole weirdness. I said, do I really want to do this now? But I just decided to get out of the house and go there and do it.
00:22:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:22:35
Speaker 3: I mean, we, we went back to work in New York for, and just like that. And we, we had to test every day and I had to test my children every day, you know, all the craziness, all the craziness, but we got through. And I mean, I was so, thankful to be, to be able to work, you know? And I think everybody like at that point, also all of the hair and makeup people who normally do photo shoots were just fully out of work. So we were able to get a bunch of them that.
00:22:59
Speaker 1: We knew into the union to, you.
00:23:02
Speaker 3: Know, have a, another income stream because there was like nothing.
00:23:06
Speaker 1: Like it was just decimated.
00:23:08
Speaker 2: So bad. It was bad. It was scary.
00:23:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker 2: Weirdness and a sadness. Yeah. Um, you know, and then, you know, not going, I, I always liked going into the room.
00:23:21
Speaker 1: Oh my God.
00:23:22
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:23:23
Speaker 2: And, uh, I never feared that. I always invited it. Um, uh, and to not be able to do that for me was just like, you know, the whole, I'm, I'm 60, I'll be 66. It's like being going on tape. It's like, I want to shoot myself. Uh, I have a son who, I have a son who, uh, is a filmed, uh, he was a film major. Oh. And so he, you know, bang, bang, bang. Um, So it's easier with him.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: That's nice. He's your DP.
00:23:51
Speaker 2: Totally. People have said to me like, Oh my God, this is really just like, it looks like a movie. So I'm very lucky to have him. He started to do acting. He's trained for a few years. It's like, I think I want to try him. So, um, and he's doing very well. He's done a couple of jobs. What's his name? his name is Liam Burke. He did, um, a Fox show called best medicine. He shot a Dexter a couple of weeks ago. Um, and, uh, then he just shot power, uh, as you know. Yeah. So he, he's a, he's a nice, he's a nice guy. He's a, he's a, he's a sweetheart. Um, and, uh, he's funny. Uh, So I'm very happy.
00:24:37
Speaker 1: Congratulations. That's so nice. That's so nice.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:24:41
Speaker 3: The thing that's interesting about this episode, I had forgotten Candace Bergen is in it.
00:24:46
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:24:47
Speaker 1: I mean, Amy, you know, blah, blah, blah.
00:24:50
Speaker 2: What's your name?
00:24:51
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Yes.
00:24:53
Speaker 3: We've got like so many people, so many people are in it. And I had fully forgotten the whole like kind of. scope of it that we've got bunny bunny my my Francis Sternhagen comes back to like give me a little speech you know I've forgotten I this re-watching this I did not know what was going to happen myself I didn't.
00:25:12
Speaker 2: Get to re-watch it I was just trying to like remember got it got it got it but I did watch both when when they came on and uh I I thought that you know when I watched them back at that time, I thought I was very, I was happy.
00:25:25
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, you were perfect.
00:25:28
Speaker 3: Like you were perfect to the point where it really leaves you thinking like, we've got to make this work somehow.
00:25:35
Speaker 1: That's what I thought.
00:25:36
Speaker 2: But you know, when we go in as an actor to a production and it's, um, uh, just a quick story. When I, when I auditioned four times for special victims unit. Wow. No, no, no. And I'm like, why do I have You know, oh, he's Irish. He's a detective.
00:25:51
Speaker 3: No.
00:25:52
Speaker 2: What? We want to keep him with something better. And you're like, oh, Lord. And then I did 30 episodes with him over the years.
00:26:00
Speaker 1: Wow. So it worked out.
00:26:01
Speaker 2: I mean, Rish is a boyfriend on the show. Wow. So when you do arrive, you want to be so prepared and gracious and professional and set your hooks, you know. uh, I'm a viable business entity, acting, schmacting, it's art. I'm going to have a good day or a bad day. I never care about that, but will I show up on time prepared? So when I was with sex in the city, uh, I just wanted to be super ready to go and relaxed. And, um, and Cynthia again was just so much fun. And so, you know, professional to work with and, and, uh, And yeah, so did I want to come back? Sure.
00:26:39
Speaker 1: Did they call me?
00:26:42
Speaker 2: No. Oh. Yeah, no, it was fine. I was very happy with what had happened. Because sometimes, you know, you show up and you're like, mm-hmm. Or they used a weird take or whatever it is. Yeah. But I was pretty pleased about the way it turned out.
00:26:57
Speaker 3: When you did the first one, did you know you were going to come back for the second one?
00:27:01
Speaker 1: Or that was just a surprise?
00:27:02
Speaker 2: No. No, it was... There was no... In my memory, recollection, there was no talk of a two-episode arc or anything like that. It was just, hi, we'd like to, yeah, okay. Because it was such a tag at the end. Mommy's coming. No, she's not.
00:27:21
Speaker 1: I know.
00:27:24
Speaker 2: So no, that was it. I thought it would only be the one episode.
00:27:40
Speaker 1: That is what's so interesting. And I think it's because of your....
00:27:45
Speaker 3: Attitude, your, you know, what you bring into your work that when we first see you in the first episode, the good fight that you, you're just like a complete being where you're like, well, yes, he's perfect for her.
00:27:58
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
00:27:59
Speaker 3: Like, and I don't normally think that so often, but also then you're just like, well, we want more, we want more. And then you show back up, which is so great because obviously Michael Patrick felt the same way. And Michael Patrick directs the second one, which is, must've been really fun.
00:28:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was great.
00:28:14
Speaker 1: He's so great.
00:28:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I met his mom somewhere. Oh, yeah. She's like this old Irish woman.
00:28:21
Speaker 1: She's incredible, yeah. She's not with us anymore.
00:28:23
Speaker 2: Both of my parents were from Ireland. I was like, where's my mother from? And I can't remember where his mother was from. And so then automatically we know we've had something of the same.
00:28:31
Speaker 1: Yes, yes.
00:28:33
Speaker 3: You're very, you've got the vibe that he shares, you know, like that.
00:28:39
Speaker 2: Who knows if it's madness or creativity or what it is.
00:28:42
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:28:43
Speaker 2: I really liked him. In our business, sometimes you know you're in the presence of somebody who's a super creative and a kind person, a funny person.
00:28:53
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:28:54
Speaker 2: And they get the job done so well.
00:28:57
Speaker 1: Yes, yes.
00:28:58
Speaker 2: That was him. And I don't know if it's from my childhood or the rhythms I possess as a human, but you don't want to let somebody like that down.
00:29:07
Speaker 1: Oh, that is so well put. That is so well put. And that's not always the case, right?
00:29:11
Speaker 2: I mean, the whole production, per se. Definitely.
00:29:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:29:16
Speaker 3: Everyone was very intense and good at their job and super.
00:29:21
Speaker 1: Into it, right?
00:29:23
Speaker 3: Like, sometimes people would argue and, you know, people would, you know, make drama out of it or whatever, but it was because everyone cared so much.
00:29:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:29:32
Speaker 3: And that's not always the case, which sounds strange to say, but like sometimes people are like, oh, it's fine. Like no one in the Sex in the city world would ever say like, oh, it's fine. They'd be like, no, we can make it better.
00:29:42
Speaker 1: Let's do this. Let's do that. Let's keep going. Let's do another take.
00:29:46
Speaker 3: Let's, you know, that, that costume needs to be a little tighter, you know, whatever, all the different.
00:29:50
Speaker 2: Details, you know. I, I worked on rescue me for seven years. It was just the opposite. It was like, you know, cut, we're moving on. I'm like, bro, can I have one more? One more. You just did a take, but I only did one. You're fucking Marlon Brando. That's what they would say to you. Who are you? Marlon Brando. You're not getting two takes. Let's go. And it was like, but, but it was always good product.
00:30:13
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I didn't really watch that show.
00:30:16
Speaker 3: Right.
00:30:17
Speaker 1: Right.
00:30:17
Speaker 2: The other thing too, is that on sex in the city, you guys were like, when I got there, it was, you were, you were iconic. You were established. And, you know, going in as a guest, you're intimidated, you're nervous, you're anxious to do it right, to do it well. But everybody there was so cool. And I'd known a lot of the crew from over the years and stuff like that.
00:30:41
Speaker 1: Our crew was amazing.
00:30:42
Speaker 2: Cynthia was my key focus.
00:30:46
Speaker 1: Right, of course.
00:30:47
Speaker 2: It was easy to sustain, you know, play with her. Yeah.
00:30:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:30:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:30:53
Speaker 1: She's the best. She's amazing to play with.
00:30:55
Speaker 3: And I think she has the thing about her, which is I think different from the rest of us.
00:31:00
Speaker 1: She has no vanity. Right.
00:31:03
Speaker 3: So like the sex scene, she's just like, whatever.
00:31:05
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Like I would always be worried. This is before intimacy coordinators. Right. I would always be concerned. Like who's going to take care of Cynthia.
00:31:14
Speaker 3: Oh Lord.
00:31:15
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Because she'd just be like, whatever.
00:31:17
Speaker 3: You know, like one time Cynthia, She was doing something and her feet were like so dirty. Cause you know, when you do a sex scene and you're having to walk around the set and the set is not an actual bedroom, right?
00:31:26
Speaker 1: It's like a set with.
00:31:27
Speaker 3: Like sawdust and exactly like construction, you know, and no one's taking care of her feet.
00:31:34
Speaker 2: Right.
00:31:34
Speaker 1: So her feet are so dirty, but they're like right in the camera. Do you know what I mean?
00:31:39
Speaker 3: I was like, someone take care of Cynthia's feet. These are the things I.
00:31:42
Speaker 1: Used to worry about.
00:31:45
Speaker 2: Well, listen, they're to be worried about their considerations. Like, hey, I love that scene. Why were your feet dirty?
00:31:51
Speaker 3: Exactly right.
00:31:52
Speaker 1: She personally didn't care, though, which is part of her charm. You know what I'm saying? She's like a just a full.
00:31:58
Speaker 2: Let's say fair. It's fine. Let's go.
00:32:00
Speaker 1: Exactly.
00:32:01
Speaker 3: She's about like the acting, not the how do I look, you know, which is.
00:32:05
Speaker 1: A wonderful thing to be around.
00:32:06
Speaker 2: Right.
00:32:07
Speaker 1: For me, you know, I'm like, Oh yeah, we've got it. We've got to let go. We've got to let go.
00:32:11
Speaker 2: Believe me, I'm going to cop too. I worry about like how things look also.
00:32:15
Speaker 1: So it's not like, thank you. Thank you.
00:32:16
Speaker 3: I know.
00:32:17
Speaker 1: I mean, actors do too, right? Like male actors. You're not, why not? It's a visual medium. You know what I'm saying?
00:32:23
Speaker 2: Moving pictures. So the picture has to be, you know, the way it ought to be.
00:32:28
Speaker 1: So absolutely. Absolutely. Well, you're a joy. Thank you so much for being with us.
00:32:33
Speaker 2: I was nervous. I was like, Oh my God, I don't remember anything.
00:32:38
Speaker 1: Oh my God. No, you're fantastic. You're such a great storyteller.
00:32:41
Speaker 3: And I'm so excited for Digger and all of your, I mean, like you're super fascinating. And I love to meet actors like yourself who have created, you know, this list of incredible credits over so much time, but also lived an incredible life.
00:32:56
Speaker 1: Like it's, it's a joy.
00:32:58
Speaker 2: Well, back at you, Christian and your work is just global. Yeah. I go with like five blocks from here to help.
00:33:08
Speaker 1: Them, but, uh, it's still good.
00:33:10
Speaker 2: Look, your character on the show, there was just such a kismet between all four of you.
00:33:18
Speaker 1: Thank you. We lucked out. We really did.
00:33:20
Speaker 2: You know what you were, you were all generous with each other, uh, just in terms of who had, you know, passing the ball and stuff like that. And it was always a pleasure to, to watch that kind of play.
00:33:30
Speaker 1: Isn't that so nice. It's so nice to be part of that.
00:33:33
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't happen a lot.
00:33:35
Speaker 3: It's true.
00:33:36
Speaker 1: It's so true.
00:33:38
Speaker 2: It's so, so true for having me.
00:33:41
Speaker 1: It's our pleasure. We love to have the special men on. It's wonderful. Well, thank you. We'll be watching. I can't wait to see digger and all of your other things.
00:33:51
Speaker 2: Thanks. Okay. Bye.