Former arch-nemeses turned number one hype men, Skyler Gisondo & Austin Abrams, stars of Primetime and Resident Evil take on The A24 Podcast.
Topics covered include: Former arch-nemeses, cutthroat Pizza Hut auditions, oceanic engineer parents, busking on Santa Monica promenade, childhood fixations on West Side Story and Happy Gilmore, shape-shifting performances, having an out-of-body experience working with Robert Pattinson on the first day of Primetime, Skyler “beaming like a maniac” watching Austin in a top-secret screening of Resident Evil, Lance Oppenheim’s deep collaboration, decapitated whale heads, shining Ryan Gosling’s shoes, Ben Stiller and Robin Williams helping Skyler ask his girlfriend to prom on set of Night at the Museum, calling Robert De Niro “Bob,” and the joy of taking big weird swings.
Skyler Gisondo: So it's like, I'm Austin, I'm Skyler, and this is the-
Austin Abrams: You want to do it at the same time?
Skyler Gisondo: And then together, this-
Austin Abrams: Okay. No, let's try it. Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Okay. I'm Skyler...
Austin Abrams: I’m Austin…
Skyler Gisondo: Fuck.
Austin Abrams: So you're going to go first.
Skyler Gisondo: No, it's just… I thought we had just spoken about that.
Austin Abrams: No, you got to pick your seat and everything.
Skyler Gisondo: Oh no, no.
Austin Abrams: No. No, it's fine. No, no, you go.
Skyler Gisondo: No, it's... I'm Skyler Gisondo.
Austin Abrams: I'm Austin Abrams.
Skyler Gisondo: And this is the A24 podcast.
Austin Abrams: I figure, should we...
Skyler Gisondo: Take the reins. Please, dude, please.
Austin Abrams: Well, should we talk about how we first, well, met-ish each other?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah.
Austin Abrams: Because of the kind of... Well, the rivalry that I personally had.
Skyler Gisondo: You're my arch-nemesis, dude.
Austin Abrams: For a while.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, yeah.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. I remember because I would go into an audition and then I would just see you walk in and I'd be like, "God damn it, not getting this one."
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, to know that that was your experience, because somehow we never... I think also as a kid, I was much more competitive in some ways.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, me too.
Skyler Gisondo: You were this mythological figure to me.
Austin Abrams: No, no, no.
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, I'd spend all week-
Austin Abrams: No, you were mythological.
Skyler Gisondo: No, dude. I'd get the appointment on a Monday. It'd be a big audition on Friday. I'd be like, "Wow, this could change everything." And I would just all week... Doing my lines, I'm locking in, and I'd walk in, and I'd see Austin Abrams. I'm like, "God fucking damn it, dude." This dude... I knew, dude. I just knew, and my heart would sink. I was like that... I don't know how we never... Because we really started hanging like-
Austin Abrams: Because we were competitors. You can't finagle, you know?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, it really was... I don't think I could have come face to face... I wouldn't have known what to do. I cannot believe that you were on the other side. It truly felt like you just got everything.
Austin Abrams: No, that's not true. That's not how I felt at all.
Skyler Gisondo: How old were you... When did you start auditioning?
Austin Abrams: Teenager, I think early teens. What was it for you? You were pretty young.
Skyler Gisondo: I was six.
Austin Abrams: You were six?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, dude.
Austin Abrams: Whoa. Doing, like, TV?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, it started with a lot of commercials, and my first audition was this Pizza Hut commercial, and dude, it was cutthroat in those days. They had to find the kid that day. So you'd go in, you'd do your lines, and they'd be like, "Okay, that was great. Go tell your mommy. Don't go home yet. Wait. You guys are going to wait for a little bit." So you'd have half the kids coming out with their heads held high and half the kids just dejected. And then there'd be a hundred kids, and they would just keep going until it was you and one other kid. And then they would tell you in the room that day, they'd be like, "You got it." And it was like, “Oh my god.”
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And it was this very gradual thing. It was a lot of commercials, small parts on TV shows. There was no-
Austin Abrams: Why did you start?
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, starting so young, people always naturally, they ask, "Did your folks want you to get into it?" And truthfully, they didn't. We didn't have any kind of connective tissue to the film industry. My parents were both oceanic engineers, so I was just this little maniac. I wish I could remember better what was going on in my mind, but I was just obsessed with this. We would be in Santa Monica, and I'd put a hat down on the promenade and start-
Austin Abrams: You put a hat down?
Skyler Gisondo: I would start busking, dude. I'd start breaking it down.
Austin Abrams: Whoa. At how? At six?
Skyler Gisondo: Six, seven. Yeah.
Austin Abrams: Whoa.
Skyler Gisondo: Looking back, I can't imagine that the dancing was good.
Austin Abrams: No, I'm sure it was great.
Skyler Gisondo: I was free.
Austin Abrams: You can move.
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, dude. You've seen me cut.
Austin Abrams: I've seen you move. You can move.
Skyler Gisondo: I appreciate you saying that on the podcast. But that was it, dude. And then it was just this thing, and I always wanted to just, in this abstract way, I was like, "This is what I'm going to do. This is what I want to be." But I also wanted to be a hockey player and a basketball player. It's crazy to me looking back now that it... I just feel so lucky that it just kept working out, and next thing you know it's like, "Oh, I'm an adult, and I'm still doing this thing and I never really could have imagined doing anything else." What was your deal? How'd you start cooking?
Austin Abrams: Kind of just started doing it for fun. I mean, I wasn't busking.
Skyler Gisondo: It's not too late.
Austin Abrams: I wasn't putting the hat down. No, I could put the hat down. It sounds kind of fun.
Skyler Gisondo: During this next strike or things slow down or...
Austin Abrams: But I just started doing it for fun and then it just kept going. A lot of theater and then into movies and TV and stuff like that.
Skyler Gisondo: Were you doing theater in school and you realized I really like this?
Austin Abrams: Yeah, basically in camps and stuff like that. And I think that expression, I just really needed that, I feel like at the time. And yeah, I don't know. So that's just how I...
Skyler Gisondo: Did you ever have to do the homeschooling thing, or were you old enough that... Did you finish?
Austin Abrams: No, I was somehow able to not do... Did you do the homeschooling?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. Yeah. The fact that you-
Austin Abrams: The whole time you did the homeschooling?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. For the beginning, then in high school I was like, "Okay, I really want to go.” Because I want to have... My sisters had been homeschooled because they were competitive figure skaters. And so they were older and wiser, and they were like, "Trust me, you're going to regret... Try to make it work. Go have this experience." I think I was also feeling like at that age, I was 14, 15, I desperately wanted to have this quintessential high school experience. And also I was auditioning for all these high school roles and stuff, and I realized I didn't know what was going on. These scenes, the things that high schoolers were doing, I was like, "This is not at all what my life looks like." Just being homeschooled, it's a very different structure. So I think it would be like-
Austin Abrams: So it was hard for you to understand that.
Skyler Gisondo: Kind of, dude. I was like, you’re playing like you're drunk or hungover or something. I don't know. You're like, "I don't know what's going on, dude." And so I started going to high school and missed a bunch of time, but they worked with me, and I'm happy I went and went to college for a year, but then dropped out for a job. Did you go to college?
Austin Abrams: No.
Skyler Gisondo: Hell yeah, dude.
Austin Abrams: Thanks, man.
Skyler Gisondo: Were your folks... Did you put a satchel over your back? Did you move from Florida to LA at 18 and you were like, "I'm just going to go for it?"
Austin Abrams: Kind of, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Whoa.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Around 17 or so.
Skyler Gisondo: You weren't on a show or... You were just sort of like-
Austin Abrams: No. No.
Skyler Gisondo: Whoa.
Austin Abrams: No. I mean, I'd done some work, and I had auditions. Someone else got most of those auditions, though, but... Someone else got those shows. But you were on a show, right? You did a show, right?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, yeah. Dude, I don't know how you feel that way because I knew, man. I knew. Yeah, it was your name, and there was a... Do you remember any other-
Austin Abrams: Just tell me what was the Santa Clara Diet like?
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, it was great. It was great.
Austin Abrams: It was great, right?
Skyler Gisondo: It was really a dream job. I actually can't imagine not having been on it.
Austin Abrams: Because I did some visualizations about it and it seemed like it was really great.
Skyler Gisondo: Did you have other nemeses, other nemesis kids who you would see at auditions as a teenager and be like, "This fucking..."
Austin Abrams: I feel like Tye was for a little bit.
Skyler Gisondo: Sheridan?
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Totally, dude.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. He was like a-
Skyler Gisondo: The nicest guy in the world to be your nemesis. Just the nicest dude. You're like, "I hate this fucking guy." Yeah, he totally.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: He crushed a lot of dreams.
Austin Abrams: He was killing.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, killing. There was a dude who... This is when I was maybe 13, 14. He would show up to an audition, take off his shoes, and he'd go in barefoot. And it was his thing. And it was to the point that the casting directors knew it and they loved him. So he'd show up, and I'd be waiting, and they'd be like, "Kick off those shoes, buddy. Get in here." I was like-
Austin Abrams: "Time to crush."
Skyler Gisondo: Put on your shoes, man. Have some respect. I hated him, dude. I really admire people like you, because starting as a kid, you're six or seven years old, you don't have any sense of self-awareness of how humiliating the thing is, like the audition process, how vulnerable. You're just having the best time, bopping from room... And so by the time I was a teenager and had developed a sense of awareness enough to be self-conscious in some way, I had this kind of resume. So I had this confidence of, “Oh, I do this. I identify as a working actor.” The idea... Stories like yours where you're like, "I wanted it, I liked it, so I just moved out to LA and I just..." I have so much admiration for that.
Austin Abrams: Well, I mean, I'd already been working a little bit, but I didn't come here and was like, "I have a job already that I'm coming here for." But I did have-
Skyler Gisondo: You were cooking.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, there was some work going on, so it wasn't fully the unknown of it.
Skyler Gisondo: Were you working enough that you were providing for... Did you have odd jobs or anything?
Austin Abrams: Yeah, I was able to make enough money where I was able to sustain on my own.
Skyler Gisondo: Nice.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Did you have influences growing up for you? I don't know if we've ever talked about that.
Skyler Gisondo: Influences? It's a good question. I don't know. There were certain movies I would watch over and over. I loved, as a kid, West Side Story, for some reason, Happy Gilmore. There were certain movies I would fixate on, but influences, I don't know, man. I loved the machinery of set. I loved being around... Because as a kid on set, you work, and then when you're not working, you have to do school. So you have a studio teacher. So there was this mystical quality to a set of, I was like, "I wonder what happens in between takes when I have to go away. What are they talking about? What are they doing? They're setting up the next shot." I just loved all the pieces moving around. And I guess to answer your question, I don't know. I was so influenced by just pretty much every adult I worked with. I was like, "I wanted to be in adult world so bad.” I wanted to know what they were thinking about. And it was funny to go back and forth between kid world and adult world because the social currency didn't transfer. If you're 10, an adult's like, "Wow, you're so precocious, or you read at a ninth grade level, you're in seventh grade," that doesn't make you cool with another kid. That doesn't really do much for you. But influences, I don't know. Were there big early-
Austin Abrams: I mean, there's some Heath Ledger or something.
Skyler Gisondo: Oh sure, yeah.
Austin Abrams: The work he was doing that was pretty wild. We were kind of at that age where when we saw The Dark Knight, it was wild to me just watching this guy and be like, "Oh my God, that's him? I can't believe that's him." Yeah, that just really blew me away. I know it blew a lot of kids away, that movie.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, no, totally, totally.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, just him, and that was just so, so wild. And seeing Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood and being like, "Oh my God, I didn't know you could do that either. That's crazy."
Skyler Gisondo: Sure, dude. It's funny, I watched performances... I always was more influenced by more, I guess, everyman... Because you're talking about actors who are like, of which I think you are one... It's interesting to hear you say those too because... And I'm not the first person to say this, but I think most actors, more or less, we play different versions of ourselves role to role and the costume helps and the hair and the makeup. But then there's very few who legitimately shape-shift, and I think you are that kind of... When I watch you, you really disappear to me. And so it makes sense to hear that you were inspired by performances like that from actors who do that. I would watch those kinds of performances and I wouldn't even... It was just so beyond me. I was like, "Oh, I'm not that kind of..." I was awestruck, but I wasn't like, "Yeah, that's what..." Because I was like, "I have no-"
Austin Abrams: Interesting.
Skyler Gisondo: "I don't even understand what they're doing. I don't know how that works. Who would even think of..." I think I responded to more grounded, down-the-middle stuff, if that makes sense.
Austin Abrams: Well, how was your work with Pattinson in Primetime? Because-
Skyler Gisondo: Rob is the ultimate. He is someone to me who is unrecognizable role to role. Down to every mannerism is invented. I remember the first scene that we did. You know when you read a scene and in your head, there's only so many ways it can go. And you're like, "I think I have a sense of what this is and how he's going to do his part and I'll do my part." And it was the first day, 6:00 AM or whatever, and I was so nervous. Rob and I hadn't spoken a ton, and I was also so nervous because the role is so unlike anything I had done, so I was really locked in. And the scene is later in the movie, and I'm in full decoy mode, calling a predator in a police room with a ton of cops around and the call... They're listening in, and they're trying to get incriminating evidence so we can move in on this guy. And I'm supposed to be on the phone talking, and at some point Rob is supposed to come over and start mouthing the word cock, basically, the point being get him to start talking about something incriminating that we can use. And so in my head, I just figured he's going to at some point be like, "Cock," say it. And so I'm doing it, and I'm looking down, and it's kind of emotional, and he doesn't say his line. He gets to the part, and he doesn't say it, so I'm just kind of vamping, and I'm just so nervous. I'm having this out-of-body experience and then finally-
Austin Abrams: Your first day too.
Skyler Gisondo: The first day, first take, first scene. Finally, there was a noise, and everyone looks up, and Rob is across the room, and he looks really messed up, and he slowly makes his way over, and he just looks like ... He looks crazy, dude. And then he does this thing where he snaps his hand in the air, and he slowly points down at my groin, and it's like he can hardly get the words out, and he's like, "Cock." He's sweating. And dude, I've just never been in a moment like that where it's just electrified. I guess he had made this choice, unbeknownst to everyone, that it was this almost vampiric thing maybe, where this guy gets his life force from taking down these dudes and when he feels far away from it, he's dissociating. And then as he gets closer, he's so worked up he doesn't need ... And it was just so unexpected and intra and dynamic. And I just remember thinking, “What actor... Who would think to?” And that was just sort of every day. The decisions he made, he was able to move in and out of things so quickly. He wasn't one of those people who walks around with a dark cloud over his head. I mean, he was so effortless for him to find new things, try new things, try something, throw it away. And everything was the most incredible acting I've ever seen. And it seemed so effortless for him, which I know it's not, but yeah, dude, it was so inspiring to work with.
Austin Abrams: Did you feel like it was, through the rest of working... Was it like that where he kept surprising you in other things too?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. I'm curious how you feel about it. I get nervous to try too many things. I have a sense of what I want to do and to feel so free to just do some... And not know if you're going to fall flat on your face. And to see him so willing to just go for it made me want to loosen up. It was this very formative experience in that way where I was like, "Oh, dude. You've got to ..." Do you find yourself bouncing off the walls and seeing what sticks, or are you in it?
Austin Abrams: Kind of both. Definitely both. I mean, it can be having an idea of what you want to do, but then so much of it depends on the moment and what's actually happening in the scene and what the people you're working with need. And then also depends on the director. Working with [Zach] Cregger, he really enjoys shaping the scene. So we come in, and I feel like it would be a lot of shaping it. And then once it would be shaped, then it would be letting it go and then doing whatever you wanted to do and whatever your instincts told you to do. I mean, your instincts are still coming when you're shaping it, but going more off the wall with it. So it depends. It depends.
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, I don't know if I told you, but they just showed me 20 minutes of Resident Evil yesterday. And dude, I was so floored. It's so funny and scary, and you're so good in it. You're such a movie star in it, dude.
Austin Abrams: Thanks, man.
Skyler Gisondo: I was beaming like a maniac watching you. I was just gleeful, dude. And it was very top secret seeing the movie. So they brought me to a screening room, and they shut this heavy-ass door, and it locked or something. So I was just alone, dude. And there was I think, 12 rows of seats. My first instinct... I went to the front row, middle seat. Dude, eight minutes in, I moved to the back. Dude, I was so... And just on a primal level, I was like, I need my back against a wall, dude. So I moved to the back of the theater, and I was just alone, terrified, dude. And also just so thrilled for you, man.
Austin Abrams: Thanks, man.
Skyler Gisondo: This is such a big movie. It's such a big deal. Did you guys go right into it after Weapons? Which we got to talk about Weapons. Did you guys just go right ...
Austin Abrams: Well, what do you mean right in?
Skyler Gisondo: Did he start talking to you about it on the set? He's like, "I have this thing."
Austin Abrams: No, I mean, I remember him mentioning it, but I think it wasn't fully real yet. I also don't know if he fully wanted me to do it yet. So it didn't come up until, I don't know, the beginning of '25 or something. And he was talking to me about it about ... Well, first he wanted me to read the script, and he said something like, "Take a look at the role of Brian." But I just thought maybe he wants some notes or something. I just didn't assume that he would-
Skyler Gisondo: He wanted you to punch it up.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. I don't know. He wanted some thoughts. And then when I was like, "Dude, this is awesome." He was like, "Oh, do you want to do it?" I was like, "Yeah." And then I was like, "Who would direct it?" And he was like, "I would." And I was like, "Oh, okay." I think he's such a high bar in my mind that I just didn't expect that he would ... Even though we just worked together, I didn't assume that he would want me to do it with him. Yeah. But it was wild. So I saw Primetime too, not just the first 20 minutes. I actually stayed for the whole thing.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, no, you were good. And don't get me wrong, it's just there's a lot going on in this.
Austin Abrams: You got a lot to do. You have a lot to do.
Skyler Gisondo: I started watching Mad Men recently for the first time. I was like, "I could just go home and watch Mad Men."
Austin Abrams: You started watching on your phone a little bit.
Skyler Gisondo: It's really getting good. I had backgammon on the phone. No, dude, they were so top secret. They're like, "We'll give you 20 minutes." And I showed up. This is probably not going to be in the pod. I was two minutes late. Two minutes. 3:30. Showed up at 3:32, and this woman who was controlling it, she was like-
Austin Abrams: It's playing.
Skyler Gisondo: She goes, "A lot of traffic?" I was like, "Two minutes. We're at the grace period." And I was like, "No." She's like, "Oh, parking? Was it parking trouble?" And I was like, "No." Everybody's mad. The whole thing. All of this to say they can tell they got a big movie on their hands, dude, and they're keeping a tight ship. But no, it was just the opening sequence through ... Probably shouldn't say I don’t want to spoil anything.
Austin Abrams: Well, Primetime was amazing, and you were amazing in it.
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, man.
Austin Abrams: I thought you were really incredible in it. And that moment when you turn into him, it was so good, dude.
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, dude.
Austin Abrams: I was going crazy in the theater about it.
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, dude.
Austin Abrams: But how did they talk to you about that or approach you about it? Because I remember when you first told me about it, I was like, "This sounds wild."
Skyler Gisondo: Well, I mean, the whole movie, man, truly, this was the most formative professional experience of my life. And just personally too, it was the most... Lance Oppenheim, who... He loves you. I think you know Lance a little bit, no? Not personally? Well, he’s a huge fan of yours. Dude, Lance is our age, which is so crazy to me. He's such... Dude, he is a master, a total master. And Ajon [Singh], who wrote it, is our age. And everybody on set was young. But I remember getting sent the script, and my agent was like, "Lance really likes you for this." And I read it, and I was like, "Dude, I'm never considered for the... I am not the..." And Lance and I got on Zoom, and the Zoom was just me almost trying to talk him out of it. I was like, "Are you sure you got the right guy, man?" Because the script was so unlike anything I had read, and it was dark and it was strange. Lance had this vision, and I'd watched Some Kind of Heaven and Spermworld and Ren Faire, and I was just this enormous fan of his, and David Bolen, who shot it, another young guy who's just such an artist. So it was really a lot of discovery. I felt this, going into it was just like, never done anything like this. I don't really know how to go about doing something like this.
Austin Abrams: Yeah? Really? In what way?
Skyler Gisondo: It was such a character, and he was deeply troubled, and there's this darkness to him. I just feel like I... Up until that point, had been thought of in a different way. These kinds of filmmakers and that kind of movie, I think there was just a different list of actors. Do you know what I mean?
Austin Abrams: Yeah. I mean, I don't really feel that way about you, but ...
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, man. Thanks, buddy. But for whatever reason, I had it in my head, "I don't even know if I ..." There were things on the call sheet where I was like, "I don't know if I can do that. I don't know how this is going to go."
Austin Abrams: Sure, sure. Like what?
Skyler Gisondo: That scene was one of the... The scene where I turned, I try...
Austin Abrams: Try? You do it, dude.
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, dude.
Austin Abrams: It's great.
Skyler Gisondo: And what's funny is, I don't know if you've had this experience where doing it seems so obvious, but going into it, literally five minutes before it occurred to me, like, "Oh, I should try to be sounding like him too." And so Rob was thankfully on set, and I flagged him down. I was like, "Rob, can you read all of these lines for me because I want to try to sound like you?" And he was like, "That's great. That's great." So he was reading the lines for me, and I was able to try to mirror his voice. And that actor, Matt, was so great in that scene. But yeah, dude, anyway-
Austin Abrams: Dude, you did it perfectly.
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, man. Yeah. It was also helpful too... Lance was so... I'm curious working, if it's the same with Cregger, but Lance was so collaborative where I know some directors are kind of like, "You're the actor, don't worry about it. I'm the director. You do your thing, I'll do my thing." Lance and Bolen, his DP, were always showing me... It was always like, "Come look at the monitor, come look at the frame, get a sense of what you look like in it." Which makes sense to me because I feel like filmmaking... It's kind of a magic trick. It's this very technical thing where sometimes what you're doing may feel a certain way, but look very different depending on how big or small you are and just the temperature of the light and whatever else. So it felt like we were these kids making a movie together. It was so collaborative. It was so inclusive. Watching any of Cregger’s movies, and especially Resident Evil, it seems so immaculate. There's such a precision in his filmmaking. What is the back and forth like with you guys? Are you guys dialoguing about everything or are you just showing up ready to rock?
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, he is very precise. But he also is, to me, from my experience, very collaborative and always wants the best idea, but he really has such good taste and can feel when something's working or not. And especially working in his world, because it's his vision and he has a strong vision, but he's really collaborative. I just try to throw out just as many ideas as I possibly can and just have him either say yes or no to it because I know that he'll be able to decipher, "Okay, that's a helpful one. We don't need that." Do you do that where it's kind of like ... Because sometimes also you don't know. Do you ever feel that way where it's like you feel like this is a good idea? I feel like it is. I'm going to throw it out there, but you know what? Actually, no, that's terrible.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, dude, I never know. You ever have where you do know, you're like, "I feel this is going to knock... They're going to love... Wait until they get ahold of this." And then you do it, and he's like, "Yeah, no, something's not really working... I don't think." And you're like, "Oh, man, I really thought I was onto something." No, dude, I feel like I never know. And I really love that directness when you can have... I think one of the... A gift of working with Lance, he was just so... Always talking and wanted you to feel really seen and heard. And sometimes, working with older directors, I'm too nervous. I'm always like, "Oh, I'm not going to bother them." There's this level of deference where you're like, "They're probably thinking about 1,000 other things." And so you can kind of feel like you're on an island sometimes where you're like, I don't want to go be like, "Hey, is it good? Do you want me to do anything different?" And you're just trying to do your thing. But yeah, with Lance, there was this constant dialogue, and I felt like I always knew right where I was in the movie.
Austin Abrams: Were you watching To Catch a Predator during it?
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, all of it.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, because that's dark. Man, it was dark.
Skyler Gisondo: Did you watch it when it was on?
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, re-watching all of it. It is, dude.
Austin Abrams: It's about as dark as it gets. It's so dark.
Skyler Gisondo: It's so dark, and that's why I didn't know what to... I was really surprised by how funny the movie...
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: I don't know if you found it funny-
Austin Abrams: Oh, dude. It's so funny.
Skyler Gisondo: But it makes sense to me now. I mean, looking back... Yeah, this weird... The juxtaposition of how dark this thing is, trying to prosecute these guys who are doing this awful thing, but then the show itself, looking back at it, is so insane.
Austin Abrams: It's wild.
Skyler Gisondo: The staged houses and Hansen with these epic one-liners, and it's so deeply entertaining, and just tonally all over the place. And I think that's part of what they were trying to zero in on. I wanted to ask you, because we jumped right into Resident Evil. I do want to ask you about Weapons too, because speaking of disappearing into characters. Dude, you're so good in that movie. It's so great. I just rewatched it in preparation of our meet and greet here. How much of that was on the page, and how much are... Because you're so... You're off the rails in that movie in the most wonderful way. It's so specific. Coming up with a character like that, do you look at the page and you're like, "I got it," or are you sort of showing up and are you-
Austin Abrams: No.
Skyler Gisondo: ... putting on the hair and the makeup and you're sort of figuring it out?
Austin Abrams: I mean, those guys that are living those lives, there's so many different types of those kinds of guys, and they're in so many different stages, too. How unwell is this person doing right now? And even this week, has this person not slept for a week or so? So they're going crazy and going into psychosis. Were they just sleeping for two weeks, and now they're just coming to get back at it? How long have they been doing this? So no, at first there wasn't any sort of... Because it just felt like there's a million ways that you can go with this. And a lot of it was just instinctual, figuring it out of what felt right and what felt the most fun to do. I feel like it was mostly just feeling it out and then feeling it out with Zach. I remember him and I talking where it's like you want to feel like this person can come back from this a little bit. You don't want to feel like they're too far gone. So I remember that was an important aspect to it.
Skyler Gisondo: So it could have veered into you're... It's this tightrope thing where it's such a big swing, but it's also so grounded and human, and you always care so much about you and the character. And yeah, dude, it is so fun. That is such an awesome... You got a lot cooking, dude. I just watched the trailer for Whalefall before I came in here.
Austin Abrams: Oh, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And I'm amazed that you were telling me it's a real whale that you guys were able to train, or it's some kind of-
Austin Abrams: Wait, what?
Skyler Gisondo: ... In Whalefall. Were you not telling me that?
Austin Abrams: No.
Skyler Gisondo: Oh, I thought you were telling me...
Austin Abrams: No.
Skyler Gisondo: I was like, "Man, this whale is like..."
Austin Abrams: Is amazing.
Skyler Gisondo: "Abrams is good in this, but..."
Austin Abrams: But this whale...
Skyler Gisondo: "Where did they find this whale?"
Austin Abrams: Yeah. No. No.
Skyler Gisondo: Not a whale?
Austin Abrams: No, no.
Skyler Gisondo: Now I'm less interested.
Austin Abrams: Yes. Sorry.
Skyler Gisondo: I'm inherently a little bit less interested in the movie.
Austin Abrams: I wish it was a full... Did I say that to you?
Skyler Gisondo: I thought you did. So all CGI?
Austin Abrams: Okay. Well, there was a-
Skyler Gisondo: So completely fake?
Austin Abrams: No. There was a real whale head made. So it wasn't a real whale, but it was a real-
Skyler Gisondo: The head of a whale?
Austin Abrams: ... head of a whale.
Skyler Gisondo: A decapitated...
Austin Abrams: Decapitated fake whale.
Skyler Gisondo: A whale head?
Austin Abrams: But a real head.
Skyler Gisondo: A built whale head?
Austin Abrams: Built, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: That you were inside?
Austin Abrams: But touchable.
Skyler Gisondo: Like completely practical, like on camera looks like a-
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And is that what you were inside? In the whale? Because yeah, the trailer, it's like he's going in there.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Well, we had built that. So then in the scene where it's like, yeah... Where I'm am going into it, there was actually that to shoot and shooting the outside of it. There was that to shoot. And then they built stomachs. Yeah, a bunch of different stomachs.
Skyler Gisondo: Whoa, dude.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Speaking of auditioning against each other, I remember getting sent that audition. And I can't think of another time in my life I've done this, but I looked at it, and I literally said to my agent... I was like, "Oh, I can't do it. I can't do that." And he was like, "What do you mean?" I was like, "Dude, I don't have the tools to... If I put this audition on tape, it'll be so bad that you guys will reconsider representing me." I remember saying, "It's going to take such a special kind of actor to do something like this. It's so intense and specific, and of course it's-"
Austin Abrams: Well, I mean, I remember feeling the same way personally. I was like, "I don't know how I'm going to do this."
Skyler Gisondo: Had it been me, I would've probably insisted on the real whale, but that's just the way that I work.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, totally.
Skyler Gisondo: But you did what you needed to do to feel-
Austin Abrams: No, you wouldn't have done it if it wasn't the real deal.
Skyler Gisondo: I think they had offered it to me, and I'm like, "Is it a real whale?"
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: How was... Because you're alone a lot, I imagine?
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: How was that?
Austin Abrams: Challenging.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, dude.
Austin Abrams: It's challenging. Yeah. That's probably one of the most challenging things I've... Because doing stuff that you just don't know how you're going to do it every day, and coming in and there's not a scene partner to work with, and you're just kind of coming up with it all your own was challenging.
Skyler Gisondo: I can't imagine, dude.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, because so much of... I feel when you're doing a scene with someone else, you can always just look at them and go off their vibe and like...
Austin Abrams: Well, so you're going to be working with a-
Skyler Gisondo: Animatronic goblin. Yeah.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. This could be the coolest thing I've done, or it could just be the end of the road professionally. It could really be-
Austin Abrams: Of course.
Skyler Gisondo: It could be so... No, dude. The script, David Mikalson, who wrote it, it's batshit crazy. It's just the weirdest thing I've ever read. And it's about... My father comes to me one day to tell me that our family's been in possession of a medieval Italian goblin for a thousand years, and the goblin makes all of our dreams come true as long as we fulfill one request today for the goblin, and it's now my responsibility. And Kenneth Branagh is the voice of the goblin. And I don't know how much I can say about it now, but I'm really excited by the idea of just going out on a limb. And the puppet, it's completely practical. It requires something like 12 puppeteers simultaneously at times.
Austin Abrams: So is that a thing where it's all going to have to be planned out or-
Skyler Gisondo: I think so.
Austin Abrams: Can you improvise with that, though?
Skyler Gisondo: My understanding is yes, because they can just rock with you and then the voice can happen later.
Austin Abrams: These 12 people, they're just kind of synced up?
Skyler Gisondo: I think depending on the scene and what's required at the time, he might need fewer puppeteers or more depending on the physicality in that moment. But I'm really, really stoked. I think every time I read the script again over the past several months, I get more excited about it. I laugh even harder as I really start to think through, which is a really good sign. Were there people over the years who you worked with where it was a very formative experience for you where you feel like you learned a ton in a short time from somebody?
Austin Abrams: I mean, I remember working with Ryan Gosling. That was the first person I worked with that was like, "This is a goddamn movie star."
Skyler Gisondo: What did you guys work together on?
Austin Abrams: I don't know if I'd say we really worked together. I kind of came in, and I shined his shoes for a little. I did this movie, Gangster Squad, and I shined his shoes a little bit.
Skyler Gisondo: Oh.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Dude. How old were you?
Austin Abrams: I think I was 15 or 14 or something like that.
Skyler Gisondo: Oh, man. What a cool thing. That's awesome.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, but that was wild. But he was just such a welcoming guy, throwing out ideas, and just was way too sweet than he needed to be to me.
Skyler Gisondo: That's awesome.
Austin Abrams: I think I worked maybe four days or something like that, but he was really, really lovely.
Skyler Gisondo: And at 15, I mean, that four days is a lifetime. What a big experience that can feel like.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. It was wild, throwing out little lessons and stuff. I remember him... I think we had finished for lunch or something like that and said something like, "He's got to go do the real job now," and then went across the street and signed autographs. I was like, "Wow." It was so cool that he just took the time to say something like that to me, you know?
Skyler Gisondo: It's funny because for you to have been exposed to that... Because I've seen you so often. People are like, "Austin, Austin," and you'll say, like, "Don't talk to me."
Austin Abrams: Yeah. "Get away from me." I'll yell at them.
Skyler Gisondo: You'll yell.
Austin Abrams: Sneer and stuff.
Skyler Gisondo: You'll raise your voice.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, No.
Skyler Gisondo: So it's surprising to hear that you were exposed to that.
Austin Abrams: There’s lessons, but I didn’t take... You don't always have to take the lessons that you're given.
Skyler Gisondo: But to be exposed to it is a gift.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. To see that and be like, "Wow, that's a great person, really great guy," but-
Skyler Gisondo: I saw you kick a kid in the shins once.
Austin Abrams: A little bit.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah.
Austin Abrams: But he just came from soccer, so he had some padding on.
Skyler Gisondo: He did have the padding. Yeah.
Austin Abrams: The padding. So he was fine. He liked it. I don't get it. What's your deal? Well, also influences because we both worked with [Ben] Stiller.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, dude.
Austin Abrams: And now you've worked with him twice.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. Another movie I auditioned for. I wanted that so bad, dude.
Austin Abrams: Well, Night at the Museum was the one I wanted.
Skyler Gisondo: And I just played his son, and so I was thinking like...
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: No, you did. I was thinking like, "Oh, yeah, we just did... This will be great."
Austin Abrams: What was it like coming back and working with him again, as his son again?
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, it was awesome because I was 17 at Night at the Museum 3, and it was-
Austin Abrams: What was that like, man?
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, such a big... At that age, it was this huge movie. We filmed in London and New York and Vancouver for four months. What?
Austin Abrams: Sorry. I'm just imagining it as you're saying.
Skyler Gisondo: Let me take you on a journey.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And at 17, dude, to be on a movie of that size and-
Austin Abrams: I auditioned for that, too, so I'm just trying to get the feeling of what it was like. What was Robin Williams like? Wait, tell me. Tell me.
Skyler Gisondo: And Robin, man, like, you know...
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Tell me.
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, it was a dream. I missed basically most of my senior year of high school doing this movie, and it was like this-
Austin Abrams: Did you watch them growing up, the movies?
Skyler Gisondo: Yes, of course. You know what's funny? I auditioned for the first one, but there was this other kid that got it. I remember there was a scene... I distinctly remember having to cry.
Austin Abrams: For his son?
Skyler Gisondo: To play Ben's son in the first movie.
Austin Abrams: Oh. Whoa.
Skyler Gisondo: And there was a scene in the sides when I was eight for the first audition where I had to cry. And I would do that thing kids do where I would just kind of like...
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: I kind of still do that and hope I cry, to be... But I would just pray to God that something happens. And I just closed my eyes like...
Austin Abrams: Let me furrow these eyebrows.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, please, something... And I was like, "I'm not going to get it." And then 10 years later, I don't know what happened, but they wanted to shake it up and bring someone else in. And so I auditioned again 10 years later at 17, and I got it. And I learned Ben... It was like this masterclass of like... I'm sure you've seen... It was the third movie in a big franchise. And Ben, I feel like he has certain movies where he takes these big swings and does these super broad, crazy characters, and then he'll also be more of an everyman. In Night at the Museum, he's more of an everyman kind of guy. And it could have just been a straightforward performance, and it's the third movie, but he was such a perfectionist. He was so precise. Watching this guy work so hard and so methodically was like... I was floored. And I remember it really lit a fire under me of like, "Oh, that's what it means to be Ben. To be at that level. It doesn't just happen, and you have to..."
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: So I truly took a lot away from that, and he was so good to me. He and Robin helped me make a video asking my girlfriend at the time to prom.
Austin Abrams: Oh, I think I heard about this. Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And I wrote like a-
Austin Abrams: I think he told me about...
Skyler Gisondo: Did he tell you about it?
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: So I wrote a one-page skit that would've made for a 20-second video or something. And I was like, "Can we do it real quick?" And Ben was like, "Oh, no. Let's get our..." And he got the cinematographer, and they lit it up. And Robin and Ben, once the camera started rolling, they were doing their thing. And it ended up being this three- or four-minute-long video. And that was just sort of the whole... It was a magic carpet ride.
Austin Abrams: Did she say yes?
Skyler Gisondo: She said yes.
Austin Abrams: I love it.
Skyler Gisondo: That would have been so tough if she said no.
Austin Abrams: She said no. She said no.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. The next day on set, everybody-
Austin Abrams: Didn't do it for her. Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: No. Yeah, she wasn't into it.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: The other guy got Benicio del Toro to make his video, and she likes him more, I guess.
Austin Abrams: She's a big fan of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and all that stuff. She really loves it. Usual Suspects.
Skyler Gisondo: And then again, 10 years later, dude, it had been such a formative experience. I'd learned so much. And then to get to do it again as an adult and really get to talk and get on the level and see him still working just the discipline and like... Yeah, it was awesome.
Austin Abrams: Have you guys stayed in contact?
Skyler Gisondo: We texted here and there. And for prom, he had, as a surprise, gotten me and my friends a limo for prom, little things like that, just him being really cool and supportive. Were you 19 for Brad's Status or 20?
Austin Abrams: Yeah, maybe 20 or something like that.
Skyler Gisondo: How was that?
Austin Abrams: It was great. I mean, that was such a great script, too, that I couldn't believe... I don't know if you ever feel this when you're working with those kinds of guys that you've grown up watching, but I'm just like, "I can't believe I'm talking to this person, talking to him right now."
Skyler Gisondo: A hero. Yeah, totally.
Austin Abrams: It's like, do you feel that way?
Skyler Gisondo: Big time. Sometimes in the middle of scenes, which is really bad acting.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: We'll be doing a... I'm like, "Me and Ben Stiller, man. Look at this."
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: "What a trip."
Austin Abrams: "Look at us together. Wow, we're getting along so great.”
Skyler Gisondo: Good actors probably don't think that-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... in the middle of scenes.
Austin Abrams: But he was awesome. He was great and really cared about the work, and just another one of those guys that was really welcoming. And I remember us doing a road trip together. I forget where we drove from. But it was a proper road trip-
Skyler Gisondo: Wow.
Austin Abrams: ... to just get acquainted with each other, you know?
Skyler Gisondo: Whoa.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. So really giving, because he did not need to do that at all, you know? And it kind of goes to what you were talking about of really caring about the work.
Skyler Gisondo: Totally. Totally.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Yeah, I loved him.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah.
Austin Abrams: I just thought, wow, it's so wild that you went and worked with him again on something else-
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah.
Austin Abrams: ... as his son.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah.
Austin Abrams: You know? What was De Niro like?
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, speaking of working with people where you're like... Every second, it's just, I cannot believe I'm breathing the same air as you.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Dude, it was so cool, and it was so inspiring, because here's Robert De Niro on this movie. John Hamburg, our director, another person I'm just such a huge fan of, would come in with a note or something, and Bob... Everyone calls Robert De Niro Bob.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Bob would-
Austin Abrams: Which you do now.
Skyler Gisondo: Including me-
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... which I think I told you about.
Austin Abrams: So when you say Bob, I'll understand who you're talking about.
Skyler Gisondo: He would hop to.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: He was so excited about the work and eager and open to... And we would do takes where sometimes... I don't know if you like to do this, but I'll reset myself if it's a joke or a little thing. Just take a run at something if it's a quick thing. And one time, I reset myself, and then Bob was like, "Oh, good. Do you want..." And he was off camera, which he doesn't have to be there.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: But he's off camera, and he's like, "That's good. You want to go again? You want to keep... I'll keep..." And he was just always so excited. And I had all of these completely-
Austin Abrams: Wow.
Skyler Gisondo: ... out-of-body moments of just like, I cannot believe this guy. And yeah, so approachable, lovely to talk to. I remember it was a big hurdle for me going from calling him... I would call him Mr. De Niro when I met him-
Austin Abrams: Sure. Of course.
Skyler Gisondo: ... because I wouldn't dream of calling him anything else.
Austin Abrams: No. That'd be ridiculous.
Skyler Gisondo: But everybody is calling him Bob-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... or Bobby, you know?
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And so I was like, "Hey, Mr. De Niro. Pleasure to meet you," right?
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And so the first week of work is going by and he's playing my grandpa, we're supposed to be familial and close, and I keep calling him Mr. De Niro. So I made a game plan, Friday, going into the weekend, end of the day-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... I'm just going to go for the first Bob.
Austin Abrams: Oh.
Skyler Gisondo: I'm just going to drop a Bob on him.
Austin Abrams: So you had a time and a place and everything.
Skyler Gisondo: And if it goes poorly, at least we're going into the weekend.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah. He'll forget about it, hopefully.
Skyler Gisondo: Right. Yeah.
Austin Abrams: We can start fresh.
Skyler Gisondo: Start fresh.
Austin Abrams: Mr. De Niro once again.
Skyler Gisondo: Exactly. And so I go, everyone's hugging... He always hugs people, and we're hugging. I was like, all right.
Austin Abrams: We're doing our hug, of course.
Skyler Gisondo: We're doing our hug. I was like, "Thanks for a great week, Bob." And I could be reading too much into it, but I think he gave me a little knowing smile. I could see a glimmer in his eye of like, "It's time you call me Bob."
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: And I was so stoked. I was like, I called Mr. De Niro... I called him Bob.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Have there been other people from Ben who you had similar De Niro level? You revered them so much that you were like, how am I going to talk to this person or work with this person?
Austin Abrams: I mean, definitely with Pitt and Clooney and-
Skyler Gisondo: That'll do it.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Holy shit. Yeah.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah. And to be working with both of them at the same time, it was pretty overwhelming.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah, Dude.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Because those were guys that I just love still and loved growing up, you know? And so then the thought of actually working with them was insane. I couldn't believe it, you know? And then, you're working with them and... Because you're going to be working with each other for a while, they want to be friends, you know?
Skyler Gisondo: Right.
Austin Abrams: They want this to go well, and they're just friendly guys in general. But to be just in the same room with them when they're being just friendly to you and trying to be a friend to you, I couldn't handle it, you know? I mean, it literally took, I think, months personally for me to chill out-
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah.
Austin Abrams: ... like actually.
Skyler Gisondo: Totally.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Totally. I hope that would go away, but I feel like it never will. I'll never be immune to... I love movies-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... and I'm such fans of people-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... that you kind of can't escape that, right?
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Every time you meet... Because it's this very vulnerable thing, where... How do you tell someone how much their work means to you, you know?
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: It's this very intimate thing.
Austin Abrams: Do you do that? Will you say something?
Skyler Gisondo: No. I always find... I'm curious how you... I don't know how. I always feel silly saying it to somebody who is already an iconic person.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. It's like, yeah, of course.
Skyler Gisondo: Duh.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. I'm De Niro.
Skyler Gisondo: You know when you tell Robert De Niro, "By the way-"
Austin Abrams: I’m Bob.
Skyler Gisondo: ... "Bob, I've got to tell... I just love, man, I think you really got..."
Austin Abrams: Yeah. You really-
Skyler Gisondo: It's so dumb. But then I think, does no one tell him that anymore because everybody assumes.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: So maybe it's still-
Austin Abrams: Maybe he'd be like, "Oh my god. I haven't heard that in like 30 years. Thank you."
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. I don't know. I just find myself usually not... I'll do a note. It's easier to write it down.
Austin Abrams: You do a note?
Skyler Gisondo: So at the end of a job, I'll just heart on my sleeve, "I love you so much, and this meant so much to me, and I forever will cherish the..." You know? And then just give it to them, never talk to them again or look them in the eye again.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah. Which is smart, which is smart.
Skyler Gisondo: Are you able to...
Austin Abrams: No. I don't know if I ever do it. I mean, maybe the note thing, but I'm not even sure if I was able to go to that length. When you're with those folks, and it's such a privilege to be with these kinds of guys, because it's also they're... When you watch their movies, you want to hang out with them, you know?
Skyler Gisondo: Right, right.
Austin Abrams: And that's the same way in real life. A lot of them are great people that you want to hang out with. I just feel too intimidated. I feel like, to... There's other friends that I have that are able to just come out right away and kind of break the ice, I think, in maybe a helpful way. But for me, I'm like, I don't know, I know things about you and I know your work, and I have these feelings already towards you. Do I say those?
Skyler Gisondo: Right, right. It can feel disingenuous to play it cool-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... because you're freaking out. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what to do, dude.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. It's easier to meet someone well... And then there's always the work, you know? So it's like, all right, we're going to spend time together, and then it can sort of... There's that element too, where it almost feels inappropriate when you're working together to gush too much over somebody.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. And I'm like, is that going to make them feel... I don't want them to feel uncomfortable, you know?
Skyler Gisondo: Right.
Austin Abrams: I know that this is just a regular person at the heart of it; we're all the same.
Skyler Gisondo: Right.
Austin Abrams: So I know it's that situation, so I try to come at it from that, or come at it from the character's perspective, maybe too.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah. Right.
Austin Abrams: Sometimes, that's kind of helpful.
Skyler Gisondo: Is there anything specific you want to do? I know I said it earlier, but I was watching Resident Evil, and I was like, oh dude, you just look like a movie star, you know? We're talking about these kinds of guys. And so part of the joy of doing this is getting to do it with friends, watching it happen for friends at the same time and see them go, and you're going to be able to do whatever you want to do, you know? Is there something in your head where you're like, one day, I'd like to do?
Austin Abrams: I don't know.
Skyler Gisondo: Yeah.
Austin Abrams: No, I don't know. I don't know if I've really looked at it like that, you know? I mean, do you feel that way or do you look at it like that?
Skyler Gisondo: Yes and no. I think if I did, I'd be a great writer. If I knew if I could create... I so often don't know what it is until I read it-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... and then it's just this burning thing, where you're like this. I really want to do this. I don't know anything else, but I'd love to do this.
Austin Abrams: It becomes very obvious.
Skyler Gisondo: It becomes obvious. I'd say I love... Which I hope... Yeah. I think I get so fired up watching old Jim Carrey stuff-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... or old Adam Sandler stuff, Stiller's, his old, the really broad physical comedy stuff.
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: I love just taking big weird swings, and that seems so exciting to me, something that's kind of on the edge.
Austin Abrams: Yes.
Skyler Gisondo: Primetime in a different way. For Lance, it's a movie that-
Austin Abrams: It is.
Skyler Gisondo: It's very much on the edge of it's so specific and strange.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. And that's something that could really not... With that subject-
Skyler Gisondo: Totally. Could fall flat on its...
Austin Abrams: ... that could really not work.
Skyler Gisondo: Totally.
Austin Abrams: Especially because it runs this line with the comedy and that tone. It's a really hard thing to do.
Skyler Gisondo: Totally.
Austin Abrams: And you crushed it.
Skyler Gisondo: Thanks, dude.
Austin Abrams: Crushed it.
Skyler Gisondo: I feel like every actor wants to be a musician, you know? We all just kind of wish we ripped-
Austin Abrams: Yes.
Skyler Gisondo: ... and I would love to... Jim Croce is a folk singer who I love, you know? Kind of a forgotten great... Not a biopic, but some kind of... I think it's really fun to play real... I'm excited by the idea of playing a real person-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... because so often with acting, it's a little bit unnerving, just the lack of... I'll have a script and be like, I know I want to work on this right now, but I don't really know what to do.
Austin Abrams: Which way to go.
Skyler Gisondo: I don't know how to work on it. I literally don't know what to do with my time other than just think about it.
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Sure.
Skyler Gisondo: But if you're playing somebody, you have homework-
Austin Abrams: Yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: ... you have structure, the idea of I'm just going to go study tape, you know?
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Was that a part that was helpful with Primetime? Because you had... Did you see-
Skyler Gisondo: I guess he's kind of an amalgamation of different decoys that they had, you know? So yeah, it was helpful to watch, to have reference material, for sure. And I also just love reading historical narrative nonfiction. I think that so many of the craziest things ever have happened, and those stories are there on the page. And so yeah, the idea of weird big swings. But also, on the other hand, I also like just being the everyman and holding down the fort too. So many of my favorite performances and actors are people who do that really well and just serve as the audience. And I think it looks easy... I think it's a difficult thing to do well, you know?
Austin Abrams: Yeah. Because I genuinely feel that movie star feeling about you personally-
Skyler Gisondo: Come on, dude.
Austin Abrams: ... where you're just so good and watchable and just... Yeah. I'm excited... Watching Primetime, I was like, I'm excited to see him to keep going down this avenue, you know? Really exciting.
Skyler Gisondo: Probably shouldn't say this in a pod, but if all of our movies bomb, it will be really funny to look back on us doing this, just us two for an hour. Dude, and I've got to say, you're a movie star.
Austin Abrams: That's why, dude-
Skyler Gisondo: Your movie-
Austin Abrams: ... you've got to cut it out.
Skyler Gisondo: You're going to be so... Us just hyping each other up, believing in-
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: This will age so... God.
Austin Abrams: At least we believed in each other.
Skyler Gisondo: Really, hey, it's true, man.
Austin Abrams: Yeah, yeah.
Skyler Gisondo: Right now. We believe in each other no matter what happens, okay? I believe in you. No, thanks, bud.
Austin Abrams: All right.
Skyler Gisondo: Love you, dude.
Austin Abrams: Love you, man. That was fun.
Skyler Gisondo: Movie star.
Austin Abrams: You're a movie star, man. You're a movie star.