I Am all In, Colin, I'll kiss You.
I Am all In with Scott Patterson an iHeartRadio podcast.
Hey Everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am all In. One on one interview with Alan lewisea who played the role of Colin McCrae and The Life and Death Brigade a Yalely for fifteen episodes from two thousand and four to two thousand and six. His first appearance was in season five, episode three, written in the Star's Last Appearances Season six episode twenty two partings. He also appeared as Colin in the episodes A Year in the Life Fall twenty and sixteen.
Colin's one of Logan's Huntsberger's best friends at Yale's a member of the Life and Death Brigade Yale Secret Society. Logan, Finn, and Colin often go on trips, performed stunts and pranks, and party together. Is usually mean and he is not, from what I know, a mean guy at all. So heck of an actor that don't have the kind of money his family does. He is frequently seen as one of Logan's sidekicks during his time at Yale, and important moments in the plot of Logan's life or Rory and
Logan's relationship. A little bit about Allan. He was born in Los Angeles. He acted first on stage in Saudi Arabia at age six. We're going to find out about that. In high school, he competed in speech and drama while studying humanities and photography. Alan received his BFA and acting from cal Arts A very very fine program at cal Arts, and landed a few supporting roles in film and television, as well as series regulars pilots for Fox and Warner Brothers.
Alan's best known for his role on Gilmore Girls. However, he's worked in film production for several commercial companies, including Michael Gandin's Partisan. Alan has been directing and producing branded content for over five years at BuzzFeed in Los Angeles and now at the A Daddy, Scary, Mommy and Fatherly in New York City. And let's bring him in. Here's Alan Lewisa. Alan, how are you? Thanks for coming on?
Good Scott, How are you doing man.
Good, good good? Alan? Tell us how you got into acting.
Acting started when I was a kid. I grew up in La born in Hollywood. Parents were not in the industry. We were always interested in my brothers and I and then and we moved to Saudi Arabia, like right away when I was a kid. Wow, And my dad was an engineer out there, he's an engineer. And we were there with a bunch of British companies and American people
and we had our own little community. And they start theater and I saw my brothers do Oliver Twist with this amazing director that was out there, and come to realize it was one of the better productions that I had seen throughout my life moving on, and it was a little stupid, you know, community theater in Saudi Arabia, And so that was that was kind of the bug right there. And then went to cal Arts after college, after high school.
Cal Arts was.
My this was my this was my high school. There was a humanities magnet, my drama teacher there was amazing agree and uh. And then went to went to cal Arts and that was kind of it. And after graduating cal Arts just kind of that was that was the w b ars And and I looked I always looked young, and so they were sending me out on all these teen roles and stuff, and that was kind of the beginning of it.
Who were some of your classmates of cal Arts because it's a very prestigious uh program.
Yeah. Yeah, My buddy Banked Anderson is actually a big wig over at Discovery right now. He's an EP over there. But what's funny is I actually did a play called Peach Blossom Fan years later. This was kind of a the center of New Theater is what they were trying to pull off over at cal Arts in terms of an outside theater group. And they were auditioning alumni and I was already out I think like three years or four years at that point. So I ended up getting
this part. And in the chorus was Cecily Strong and Alison Brie as chorus members, and those were you know, at cal Arts. They were years behind me, and so I met a group of I met that group. Also, who else was there in my class specifically? There was a woman named Amanda Teppi. She did some General Hospital and and some Disney Channel stuff. There's yeah, there's been a few people in and out of there, a all all over throughout the years that are like working all the time.
Oh yeah, I think Tom ch and a bunch of people.
Yeah, he was at my showcase. He came to like kind of coach us through our showcase year, which is basically like your your last year there, and you put together a scene to audition for all the agents and all of that. So it was kind of like gearing us up to get out into the real world and hopefully get representation.
And that's that's not a lot of pressure, is auditioning.
Yeah, it's kind of like a you know, it's as much pressure as like, you know, like a studio test where you're like, what the hell you know now that goes?
Tell us how you got the role of Colin. Tell us about the whole process of it.
Mara and Jamie they they knew my managers at the time, and I got a general meeting and sat down with them at their office and Warner Brothers, and we just kind of shot it and we're talking and vibed right away and it was like, okay, let's just do this. So she just after that meeting, it was like every guy role that had come out I was auditioning for and auditioning for. And then you know, it was like a few years after a while, I was just like okay, let's let's like I need it. You know, it was
like two years of auditioning. I was like, all right, I'm kind of getting over coming out to meet these meet the producers all the time. And the last role was like, you know, we don't know how long the the show's going to last. We got to get Alan in there on something, you know, that conversation was happening, and so I went in and it was for Collin
and he's kind of an ass. You know, he's an ass and he's very like pompous and was like the meaning to to Marty and the first scene there and that was like the audition scene, and it was like, you know, I was you know, I walk in and they're like hey, Alan, and you know, they know your first name and I've never worked for them, and you're like hi, Amy, and I was just like what's up, you know, like okay, let's let's just do this. And then they're like perfect. That was it. That was the
energy that we need it, you know, for Colin. And that was kind of how it started. And then and then it kind of snowballed out. I think we were only supposed to do three episodes and just kind of gelled right, and it was like a different energy from the show. What the show had had before, I guess, and you know Amy was having fun writing for it.
So so you were just burnt. You were burnt out at this point, didn't care. Let's just do this, right, let's oh.
Yeah, you know, at that point just drops You're like, all right, right, you know, let's do it.
You were just real, you were just like, let's just do this. And you know, it's interesting because that's exactly what I did in mind meeting.
That's hilarious.
And it wasn't because I had met them. I'd never met any of them. I was just so tired of auditioning and and really nailing stuff and not getting the offer. And I was just like it was like a couple of years in a row of that. I was just like I walked into that room and I was so jaded and burnt out, and I didn't care. I mean, you know, and I you know, I wasn't being an ass up to them. I was just like, hey, what's up,
how you doing? All right, let's do this, so you know, I don't want to get to just get through I'm illigally parked outside, so can we just get through this? And they immediately responded, they were like finally somebody. I think. I think everybody comes in and they're nervous or they're kissing ass too much and they don't like that.
Yeah, and they like to say all the right things and be like, you know, you're trying to guess what it is, and all they're looking for is the vibe of the character, right like this, this has to be the vibe that is going to be living in this world the whole time. And you know, like what happened on mine too, where it was like, all right, I don't care what oh yeah, you look, yeah, your shirt's fine. It was something demeaning about the shirt or something, and
it was like that was it. I was like, but I don't care, that's it. But yeah, I mean some of our best work we're in all of those auditions, right, you know, sometimes like before leading up to it, where were like people will never see this, and I nailed it out of the park. But you just got to keep going. And then after a while you're.
Like, Okay, it's like running for office, man, You got a campaign and get the votes, and it.
Takes time to get the votes, get and take the hits as you keep going, you.
Know, oh yeah, oh yeah, so obviously you had seen the show before you auditioned, right, Were you aware of the show before you auditioned or no?
Very aware of the show, right, barely watched the show. I was in my twenties, right, and that show wasn't geared towards young dudes in their twenties. It just wasn't. And I knew of the show, and I had auditioned a lot, knew it was like the Fast Talking and actually had done a pilot with Jared. So they had done a young mcgiver in between him getting Supernatural and being on Gilmore, and they were trying to get him on a show, and they had we shot a pilot
where he played young mcgiver, the nephew of mcguy. Was that script, and I was his best butt in it, and Jared and I became buds for a good you know, two years. We were hanging out all the time. And then after that I had done this random pilot promo presentation through some writers and producers that were trying to pitch a show to networks, and we went out and this is when people started to actually shoot those things
instead of just sending a pilot script, you know. And so we went and shot it, and Milo and I played best friends in that thing I had actually known Jared. I played Jared's best friend and something, Milo's best friend and something, And then on Gilmore, I ended up playing Matt's best friend, which is like I'm always like the best friends of all of her boyfriends throughout like different parts of my career, which is hilarious.
Wow, there you go, you found a niche. So what was it like working so closely with Matt and Alexis?
Those two are great, They have good energy, They're just great people. You know. Alexis, you know, is like like a like a mouse, so you know, it's very like quiet mousey. And but when we were on set, especially with UH, with Tanking and and Nick and like some of the other guys, it was like, oh, it was this like energy that was there that wasn't there before, I guess, And that's that's kind of what they were
telling us, you know a lot. And so Alexis like really ended up vibing with all of us, and we would we had some like get togethers outside of work a few times with just the four of us, or you know, going to like hang out at her house. One time she had a little get together that was nice, and she's she's just so sweet. She's she's a sweetheart,
and she's always been so kind to me. You know, like that was always like we had like a we had like this we're both like we're both like blue eyed, light skin people with family from South and Central America. Is like kind of our vibe that, you know, we were like, oh, you're one of you're one of those. Okay, so on mine, you know, I think we went and had Cuban food once together. That was that was fun.
And Matt is just like he's such a good actor and he's like really like what I like about Matt's He reminds me of like when I did I did speech and debate, you know, back in my high school years also, and those were years full of like people talking to the walls and like just working on their bits and getting it right and just trying trying to say it this way and that when you see them talking to themselves in the corner, and you know, I remember Matt was doing a lot of that when we
were just like happy to be on a set and you know, hanging out and you know, having a job and you know, doing some fun stuff together and you know, and Matt had obviously a much bigger responsibility on that on that show than we did, you know where he just really wanted to get all of those beats right
with her and the scenes that they had together. So that was always something that I really admired about Matt and just reminded me of like, yeah, that's that discipline, you know, and he shows it, you know, he shows it pays.
Off, he really does. He was very smooth with his delivery. He's very quick, but doesn't seem rushed. Yeah. Yeah, he's he's top top drawer, Yeah, for.
Sure, a top chef actor there.
He's really good, he really is. So give us some behind the scenes moments that you remember.
Behind the scenes stuff, you know. The revival was really a lot of fun for us. They had us doing some some really cool stuff with like I mean, I showed up. They had that that crane going up to the third floor of you know to shoot us golfing on top of Stars Hollow there and and we were having a blast. I remember, we were just having too much fun running around on that. They put us in that car to to drive down the back of Forest Lawn there the steakbed truck with you know, smoke coming
out of it. They were trying to make the whole street into a fall East Coast town and and and we were looking at the budget. That Netflix budget was definitely different than that that WB budget.
Yes, it was big, way, bigger, way bigger.
I think we were just all slack jobs that whole shoot. But we were had We had a great time. I remember actually this episode, uh you jump I jump Jack was it was like a sweep sweek episode. So they spent all kinds of time and money reshooting. We had to reschedule things that you know they get you know those days. Yeah, I'm sure you remember those days. It was like you know, they were it was just jam packed. And but that was tons of extra, tons of costumes,
just tons of stuff everywhere. And and we were up at Griffith Park one night just playing guitar and hanging out and being you know, just being like we did a scene in the beginning. They said we'll get to your scene later. They never touched us for the rest of the day, like we'll get back to you tomorrow. And we're like, okay, great. But we had like our own little campfire out there and it was fun. It was a lot of.
Did you did you get to jump off the platform?
I'm at the bottom with the top hat. I'm the guy that's like, you guys got to do it. You know, I'm that guy. So I didn't do it. But what's cool is like seeing really kind of surreal about all of that is that this show is such a staple for everybody. You know, all the fans are still clearly
here and they only just get bigger. It feels like over the years that you like, the fans don't ever drop it, but then their kids start liking it, and you know, and then those kids started growing up, and that that episode seeing umbrellas, seeing you know, Innomnia Paratus tattooed on people, is that was definitely an eye opener of like, oh, this is a you know, this is a very special thing this show. This show is special for a lot of people. Here.
Magical episode, absolutely magic and I'm finding this uh uh rory discovering and you know, walking through this portal into Logan's world is the best storyline.
You've been watching it, right, You've been watching it, like rewatching it.
I've never seen it, so this is the first time so I watch an episode before we we do a podcast. Yeah, yeah, so it's fresh.
Yeah I did. I did that recently too. It's amazing. It's a great storyline.
It's it's really something. Uh, It's it's just given the whole new life to this show. Yeah, big energy with this show, with this stuff. So what did you love about playing Colin?
Oh? I like playing mean people. It's fun. It's like, you know, it's just I'm always I'm always trying to be pleasant around people. I don't like to like rock the boat too much, you know, when I'm in a group of people. But playing that is just like, ah, I get to do this now and I have like a free pass to be this guy. I think that's
like the most fun. And what's what's kind of funny to me also is that I've become very defensive for you know, characters in the world and other shows and stuff that you see people really hate that actor and they really get on them, and and I've always thought, like, they did it, they did the job. Otherwise, if you didn't feel that way, there's no show.
There's no show.
You know, your extreme love for the for the protagonists and your extreme hate for this person means they did exactly what it was, and I felt like, you know, there's there was that you know, that aspect of him. They didn't need him to be such a villain, but you know, like Colin doesn't need to be such a villain, but he's you know, he's written as an ass and he's you know, playing pompous rich dudes is a lot of fun to play, you know, just so much fun.
They're oblivious to how rude they are, and there's a lot of that. I think that was a lot of the fun with them is that they weren't the brightest guys either, you know. They they were just you know, just a few notches below Rory and Logan in terms of in terms of like that extreme you know, understanding and like, you know, right.
So they were like thirteen fifty thirteen seventy five, sat going.
Yeah, parents, clearly, right, clearly, you know they have the references because they have like you know, the just the family experience of being around that stuff. Sure they have that, but that's like just by just by you know, by being around it, you know, but it's not something that they would have sought out on their own. And they
really don't don't strive in it, that's for sure. Yeah, they were always a little like dim witted when it came to something more so thin, more so tanks character, it's definitely like, boy, yeah, we've got to watch out for him. You know.
What was your favorite episode to film?
You know what was? There was a we had a poker game that we had to play. I don't think you've got gotten to that yet. There's a poker scene we just we just played poker with a crane hanging over us for the day and and just guys and you know, we're all there and eventually the conversation start breaking into relationship t M I stuff and you know, all the all those things when we're like, you know,
we've been on set for six hours. We're getting personal here, let's do it, you know, and we're like talking about like old old flames and things like that. That was a good That was a lot of fun. You jump I jump Jack was great because we got to play at at that Disney ranch up in Santa Clarita and just being on location and you know, some cool places like that. But I don't know that that revi though. We did a lot of cool stuff with that revival.
Right, So, when did you hear about the revival and how they approach you.
I was waiting for it to eventually happened, because I remember I was tracking the Gilmore life after you know, you know, before Netflix, before they even made it to Netflix, because we started to see all these shows coming onto onto Netflix, and we're like, okay, they're they're now bringing back these old shows that we love. Where the heck is Gilmour, Like that's a that's a giant you know, cult following there. What are you doing, guys, You're you're
wasting time here? And then eventually Gilmore came out, and then the Internet kind of blew up and Twitter kind of blew up with old episodes of Gilmore and all the memes and and gifts and all of that and then and so I was like, okay, that's great, saw that interview from from ATX right and was thinking, Okay, they're really thinking about it, and then I heard that Okay, they're doing it. I had no idea how big they
were going to make it. Were they going to bring every character back, or were they you know, on a very specific track of a storyline or what. So I was kind of expecting something, but realized maybe they don't bring us back. They didn't bring us back for season seven. Really, you know, I didn't do any season seven episodes. I did five and six, and then they skipped over. So I was like, Okay, maybe maybe they will, maybe they won't.
So yeah, I think I got it after I was hearing that it was greenlit for maybe about two or three weeks, maybe about a month then and then I got the call, and that was like, that was a lot of man, that call. That call was great, wasn't it. It's just like so nice to be able to go play again. And then they had all the toys they had all.
Had, They had a lot of equipment. I mean we basically shot four films. We shot four films. I mean it was it was so much equipment and so much technology brought to bear, so much on that. Yeah, it was. It was so when you meet fans, uh, what is what is the common question that they ask you?
A common question from fans, Oh, that's a good question. I think they're more I think they're more interested in just trying to figure out me, because Colin is such a such a specific type of person, you know, and I don't know. I actually I'm stumped on that one. What they they're normally just asking like, oh, what's it like with with Matt and do you still talk to the guys? I think that's kind of the main main thing. And we do still chat every once in a blue moon.
Matt less, so he's very busy. He's you know, he's off doing some some cool stuff. Nick and and Tank and I every once in a blue moon will get on a group chat responding to something that we read or something like that. But I haven't seen those guys in a while. Nick, I've seen I saw last about two years ago.
But you know, Covid, what what are you working on now?
Right now? I'm writing, I'm writing. I was doing a lot of production work for some companies in house. I was like eping on some like commercial work for companies. I was doing branded content over at BuzzFeed for a few years there and kind of took over running production at a company in New York for about two years during the pandemic. That was crazy. Did it in San Diego for about a year and a half. I did.
We did a Super Bowl commercial and that was amazing, and Olympics commercial, you know, so I've been I've been doing a lot of behind the scenes and then just did some production just now. So I'm writing right now right now. With that writer strike, you know, solidarity to everybody right now, you know, for the right, but you know, now's the time to kind of get my scripts together and kind of pick.
Yeah, stockpile them. Yeah, good time. Yeah, it might be a lengthy Oh yeah.
We'll happen volumes of scripts by the time it's done, hopefully hopefully not.
And then the studios will get their AI scripts all lined up and they'll.
Get their robot writers and then we'll be and we'll be all done.
Interesting how AI is going to just really start to you know, the hornet's nest of copyright infringement is going to be a big legal issue going forward.
Yeah, it's I think it's like, I think it's such an interesting thing. You know, people need to get on it. And obviously clearly in Congress they got it. They have to get on it and have these conversations, you know. But like there's that that conversation about like rhymes. I think it said, you know, she's okay with people making songs as long as they split it fifty to fifty. I don't know if that's the right deal, but like there's something there where it's like, oh, she stopped singing
years ago. People know her voice. She's going to make money on you creations with her voice. Weird, But like I don't know, is that something that's going to happen you know versus. But then the writers. I worry about the writers where it's like, you know, you know, they'll get a concept from somebody or from you know, from AI or vice versa. Then you know, ask AI or somebody to punch it up where it's like it should be cultivated. We'll see, We'll see how the writing goes.
Because again I think human hands need to touch that stuff. So I don't know, scary Scott.
Scary AI is not sentient, so it's not sentient. Where are they going to get the heart and soul from?
I think you know that I can't fake it. That's That's what I think it's going to eventually have to come to, is like you need you still need a human editor. With all that chat GPT stuff that's happening, Like you could release some of that and some people will buy into it as like filler content. But like the really like real media kind of like you know, human human and human connection, and I think it still needs a little bit of some human hands editing it, looking at it.
Yeah, well know the game is up when the awards ceremonies have categories for Best AI Screenplay, Best AI.
Actor, Best Platform to write a script. Yeah, oh man, Yeah.
All right, so we're gonna do We're gonna do something called rapid fire. Now, I'm just gonna throw some questions at you and please just answer to the best of your ability. How do you like your coffee?
A cold brew black? Sometimes I'm in the mood for a splash of something and some sugar, but I'm.
Usually Are you a team Logan, Jess or Dean?
Yeah, that's always been a contentious one. I am Team Logan.
There you go. Who is your favorite Gilmore girls couple? Luke and Lorelei or Richard and Emily, No.
Luke and Laurli. Yeah you Hey Scott, Scott, Scott, you killed it in that that revival At the end there in the kitchen, I thought, is like, that was like so well done. So it really hit me in the chest so hard. I was like, Scott did his damn thing on that scene. I just wanted to tell you. I never got to tell you.
That, but I appreciate that.
Yeah, that was. That was I mean, it was such a culmination of the entire series, and you nailed it. I really really thought you did a great job.
There, man, Thank you. I there was a lot of pressure on that one. I knew what it was and what it represented, so it was like, yeah, got got it delivered. So thank you. I appreciate that. What would you order at Luke's Diner?
What would I order?
What would you order?
Yeah? Whatever Caesar made?
Jackson or Taylor for town Selectmen?
Oh, Taylor's just so fun to hate, right, So I think I agree.
I agree, he's the perfect guy. Yeah, you love him and you hate him at the same time. Would you rather listen to Hep Alien or The Troubadour's cover songs?
Oh? Sorry, Hep, but the Troubadour cups are really good. They were pretty good.
They were. Yeah, Grantly Phillips, He's amazing, Harvard or Yale?
Duh, Yale?
There you go.
Yep.
What's Rory's bigger mistake? Crashing the car her boyfriend built for her or sleeping with her ex who is married who happened to be the same person. So what do you think it is car Crasher being part of an adulterous affair.
Yeah, probably that second one, even though even though the audience wanted.
It, Yeah right, I.
Mean we wanted them to get back together, we know that they are meant for each other.
That is an observation.
Yeah, I think that's I mean, Gilmore did a lot of that, I feel like, yeah, and I think that's kind of the appeal of the show is that it wasn't It wasn't perfect. Nothing was perfect. Everything always had a little bit of some cracks to it or a big crack to it.
You know, that's an interesting statement because that cause that when we did that, we did that podcast, it caused a lot of controversy.
Yeah. Oh yeah. People have a lot of mixed opinions about Oh.
They sure do, and we heard all of them. Who from Gilmore would you not want to be stuck on a desert island with.
Oh or character? Oh Taylor, Uh, that would be one. That would be one. I'm trying to think of somebody worse than that. Yeah, I think now, I think I think he's the one that kind of irks me in terms of that, Like I wouldn't want to be stuck on a night of that.
I always thought it would be Paris, But then if you think about it, Paris could probably figure out a way to get you out of there.
Paris wins Survivor, right if she was on the show Survivor, she would have won it, Like she would have manipulated everybody, figured out some fire.
She's a schemer. She's a schamer. All right. So something in your life that you are all in.
On, something I'm all in on is right now. It's my family. Like I've been, I've been vibing on the whole. You know, COVID was a thing, and you know, having like some some you know, some dramas happened and trauma's happened, and you know, family members and all that. That's kind of been my My thing lately has been like really like kind of connecting again with with my family a lot. And that's kind of what I'm I'm all I'm all
in right now with my family. That's probably like a safer answer, I think more fun answer would be I'm kind of all in on Star Wars lately. It's not Gilmour, but that's kind of been my geeky little side escape. I've kind of kind of been watching that stuff, so, you know, grew up with it, and they're doing some cool stuff lately, so that's kind of kind of a little bit of a my side, my side a little all in.
Yeah, good too. Well, it's been it's been fun. So I don't know that I ever met you on set, but so it's been nice meeting you and catching up and talking with you. I appreciate your time, and I really appreciate you having me and you know, there's more episodes to come. This Life and Death Brigade is it's just fun to watch, wonderful watch you guys.
Bring it, bring me back if you want. I'll break down some other things in those episodes. I like. I when I had to watch the show, I did a binge and I got really into characters and their their arcs and you know, some fan meetings, we've talked about stuff a lot, so I get into it.
Let me know, good deal, man. Yeah, I'll say, yeah, we'll have you back on at some point. Anyway, Thanks so much, thank you to ever to talk to you and all the best, and uh, we'll see you next time.
Yeah, And I'm gonna go get some coffee right now. Go pick.
There, you go, buddy, Take care.
Take care.
Scott here. All right, hey everybody, and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com. Oh you're Gilmore friends. If you're looking for the best cup of coffee in the world, go to my website from my company, Scottip dot com, s C O T T y P dot com, Scottip dot com Grade one Specialty Coffee