Starring Sam Horrigan as Val in "Brink!"

Welcome to another park Hopper episode, and we are going back to something that again I got some ish for on the on the old Instagram and Internet machine because by and I will well, I'm gonna watch it. I'm gonna watch it again because people did not love that. I did not absolutely love Brink. Uh, so I gotta go back and watch.

But because you're wrong, that's also absolutely possible.

You're wrong.

I am wrong more often than I'm right. Just ask everyone in my life.

But no.

One of the people we got to talk to, though, which was so much fun, was Christina Vidal and interview.

This couldn't have been nicer.

She's running around with her family in the car at the time, which is like the coolest thing in the world. Yes, but there's one person that we got asked over and over and over again to get and so while we normally wouldn't do a second park Opper episode on on one movie, we had to because we have the opportunity today to talk to him.

Uh.

He played val for.

The bad guy, the bad guy, the villain, the villain of Brink with the great with arguably some of the greatest hair, certainly some of the greatest skating, which we want to get into Yes, but we are very lucky today on our park Opper episode to be joined by the one and only Sam Horrigan.

How are you guys?

Welcome?

Wow, how's it going?

You have certainly one of the coolest zoom areas we've seen of anybody.

I put a lot of effort into it. Things were moved around just for you, guys. That's how important this is for me.

Looks so good.

Well, welcome. We're so glad you.

Could be here.

We got asked over and over and over again to bring you on again.

Everyone needed to get an interview everyone. The nostalgia would Brink is just epic. People were instantly you gotta do Brink, you gotta do Brink. So we did, and then it's you gotta get Sam.

We need to talk tobou spoken They did, do you Now there's been with what Sabrino saying, there's been this enormous resurgence of Brink in the last few years.

Have you felt this?

Yeah? I get messages at like three am in the morning. Sometimes they'll play it late night and people will be reaching out to me like, oh, we just got back from the bar and we're all watching Brink and then people have actually who used to skate when the movie came out, they stopped, they became parents, and then now they're back skating again. Yes, that's like there is a crazy resurgence of just skating in general of rollerblading.

Is there really? I didn't know?

Yeah, oh yeah.

I would go as far as Sade Usher must have been a rollerblader back in his day, because he brought us to the super Bowl.

I'm going to take a little bit of credit for the super Bowl halftime, so because I feel like I might have been a little bit of inspiration me and the rest of the coast just saying.

I had to have been a Brink fan, had Tom There's just no way around it.

If we do a Brink too, we'll have maybe it'll be a musical.

Yeah right, probably would be for Disney, I can tell you that for sure.

So do you remember we we'd love to kind of start with do you remember the first time you heard about Brink?

Did you What was the audition process like where you offered the role? What happened?

Okay, so the audition came through like any other audition, But the second I saw it, I just had to have it. So when I started acting was when I was about ten, and when I was ten, at about the exact same time, I started rollerblading too. Wow, when I wasn't acting, I was rollerblading, okay, to the point where when I did Grace under Fire, I was not contractually supposed to roller blade at all, and I ended up breaking my rib cage. Oh no, no, I had to play it off like I was fine. We got

Oh my, so were you like in full of like bandage rib cage pulled together?

It was nothing you can really do for your ribs.

No, but you just have.

To take short breaths because like I had splintered bone that my lungs were expanding against.

Oh my gosh.

That was probably thirteen and a half, maybe a couple of years before Brink.

All right, well wait if we're talking a couple of years before Brink. So you did Boy Meets World before you did Brink.

Right, Boy Meets World was my first like real acting job.

Yes, yes, Oh that's so cool.

You guys sent me off. You guys gave me the wind of my sales that I needed to continue forward.

Do you know you were also inarguably the most famous, most popular, most important episode of Boy Meets World ever.

That's true because that's the first episode the penga.

Yeah, that's the first ever episode. Is you being again?

Kind of you seem to be cast, especially when you're younger, as kind.

Of the bully, jerk guy. Why where did that come from?

Always was that kind of a thing, as you were always cast as the bad kid.

You were good at it, I guess.

I love it, yeah, because I feel so. I feel like the bad guys have all these different like dimensions to him, and it's so fun to play the bad guy. Yeah. When it comes to Val, I think that's the reason why people take to him so much is because he just loved being bad. Yeah. He just took so much to light in driving them crazy.

Oh he was fearless and you were so confident. You were so confident. I think that part of your character was really appealing.

Is because we talked about between you and Eric, it was kind of this. You know, you were either a Val or a brink like girl like as the girl fans, right.

I think most people were Brits.

They were either like they loved the bad guy or they liked the like squeaky clean brink. He hadn't had to choose, right, could like both of us?

True, maybe they love to hate me sure later in life. Yes, I think there's some fans that now are like more on the side of X blades, But I kind of was was definitely the winner when it came to the like Bop magazine fan base.

Yeah that I mean, in all honesty, your character did almost try to kill.

Yes, almost almost tried tried to kill a girl on the Disney Channel, with no remorse whatsoever.

At the end of the movie, even after it got like blown up, you were like, yeah, I did it.

Yeah, whatever, just rides off to come back again unexpectedly at any given time. Hasn't learned anything from the entire experience. That's so great.

Okay, So the audition comes through like any other. We talked to Christina who said that she had to rollerblade for the audition.

Did you have to rollerblade for the audition as well?

So the first audition, so there were multiple auditions. Obviously they paired us up. They tried to figure out if it would work. But the first audition just going in was was no skating required. But I came in with my skating double bag. So I had my skates that were obviously used. They were all like busted up roller blades that I would skate and have to like I'd break off the wheels or the bearings would break and I'd have to like engineer him back together. So I

You gotta give me this, you gotta give you this.

But still I wasn't really sure what was going to happen, right, And so when it came to matching up, I walk in and Eric vont Detten's in there, and I had already done a movie opposite Eric, Escape Twitch Mountain. Yeah, I knew that we played well. Isn't he the bad guy in him as the rob? And so when I saw him, I was like, let's do this, baby.

Oh man?

So okay, So did they pair you up the first day you were there or was it just single stuff the first day?

No, first day it was just straight normal read with the casting director. And then I think this, I think it was the second audition was the one where they brought in Eric and then we did a table read after. It's amazing. I mean, the fan base in the movie. I don't think there's enough credit that goes to how well it was cast and how amazing the crew was, and how awesome the locations were beautiful. I mean it's like Miami Vice.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it really was.

It was great, even the the graffiti and everything, the just how bright the skate parks were, then the ocean behind it, just everything pops on screen.

Was that now?

Christina said she never got a chance to shoot in Washington. Did you go to Washington?

We went to Washington?

Apparently some of it says some of it. If you look on the internet machine, it says some of it was shot in Washington, Washington State.

It's wild. I wonder what that was.

I wonder if there was any It was maybe b.

Rolls straight along the shore, every beach you can think of, and most of those skate parks were built from scratch for the movie. Yes, oh yeah, yeah. So like the pit remember in the open end like scene where like x Blades comes in. Ye, there was a real there was the real Venice Beach pit from the movie. What was it Oh, it's with Roland Brashing. I haven't seen it. It is It is such a good movie.

Yes, the rations like air was even before Airborne, wasn't it.

Yes, yes, okay, genre type of film, yeah, yes. And so there's they had the real pit, which is like a spot where everybody could graffiti, but ours they actually built from scratch and just made it amazing.

Yeah.

Did you guys get a lot of time to just kind of play around in there during filming?

Are you somebody one of the actors would get injured, right, So they would tell us like, you need to wear

So one of the things we loved about the movie was the fact that you couldn't They shot it in such a way where there's a lot of times you could not tell the difference between the stunt double and the people that were.

Right the actors.

It was unreal.

It looked like, look you guys, I mean, well, I know that you did quite a bit of it because you were at a professional.

Skater level at what fifteen is when you kind of when you.

Were you a pro skater or close to it.

I technically I was pro, I guess because of the movie, Like that's where the pro title kind of came from.

Okay, and you were doing a lot of your own skating.

Yeah, I do most of the stuff. Yeah, did you really? There was I did a lot of Like my thing was street skating, and so the street skate, like the downhill, that's me.

You're doing the downhill.

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

Man, you're kidding me. You are going down that downhill, it's you.

It was crazy. So the first time we go to the actual downhill area is the scene where we're up by the Victory bell and or Korean bell. I can't

It definitely looks that way.

But after that I did Jake Elliot, one of the stunt doubles, was like, let's do this, and so I went down with him, and then after that I did all the other takes and it was invigorating.

That is awesome.

Did you know a lot of the stunt guys from just your regular skating life?

I mean, yeah, yeah, I mean I was like geeking out on the pros that we had on there because these were the guys that I idolized as as a skater, and and so I had grown up with all of them, and so when Airborne came out, that was when I started skating like that is that was the start of all of us, like me and my group skating. Yeah, and then Brink was like the second movie that they got to be a part of, which was Yes, it

Okay, oh, I guess that makes sense because they're showing you. I mean it's like you're trying, You're doing their tricks, they're doing your tricks, all that kind of stuff, Right.

You see what's possible. Yeah. Once you see somebody else do the trick that you thought was impossible, all of a sudden you realize that maybe it's possible for you too.

Yeah.

And then that's why like backflip and motocross impossible. Nobody can do it. One person does it, and then like by the next year, there's like fifty people that could do the trick already. Yeah.

So you talked about fracturing your ribs while you were doing Grace Underfire?

Is that what it was?

Yeah?

So Christina told us that she actually got hurt while filming. She slammed her tailbone.

Down when she was dropping in when she was doing.

A dropping definitely happened. Yeah, did you get hurt?

It all while well filming the movie.

So the pink ramp in the in the semi final yeah, okay, where Brin comes in with his shades on.

Yeah, when you didn't recognize him because he got the shed look.

But it come with some skating attached. So that pink ramp. It was metal, and I was not used to skating on metal ramp. And then the fact that it was painted it like the wheels stuck to it. So when I first the day before, I came to just kind of test out the ramp, and I couldn't do huge tricks on half pipes. We had a half pipe that was in like the closest big city that I would get to like here and there, so I could I could drop in, I could do some jumps, I could

You burned your eyes?

Yes, yeah, they were putting like like I dropped in them all the time. They were like.

Super I've never heard of that. I never heard of that.

What's amazing is the fact that we shot the entire movie outside and I never got any color whatsoever. And then Eric like phenomenal, Tan, don't.

You love people like that? It's just like, how are you constantly Tan?

One of the questions we get asked a lot is the worm sandwich?

Okay, I was just gonna oh, yes, I almost puked. I literally almost puked watching that again. I don't remember it being so realistic and disgusting. What was that like?

Well, because puke?

If I had to act that out as a.

As a fifteen year old kid shooting a movie and seeing that in the script, I will honestly tell you I was a little concerned with whether or not I was actually going to be getting real worms. Yeah, you never know, Like, how big is the budget? On this stuff.

Just give them worms, He'll be fine.

So we used uh, they were like fishing worms. So they were like these giant rubbery kind of like rubber band type of things. And but that shot in the film is one continuous shot. It's incredible where there's real worms on the sandwich, Gabrielle picks it up, walks around, and all of a sudden it's swapped out with the other one, same continuous shot. So cool.

Oh wow, that is cool.

Thank you, Thank god that they swapped it out in time, because you could have that could have been a really bad day.

Yeah, it would have been an entirely different film.

Oh that's so funny. The other thing we get asked about quite a bit.

That's something we have to address because I had this in the nineties as well.

Phenomenal hair in this movie.

Just the hair.

Top was your hair hair routine to keep the middle part bad guy haircut alive.

So my hair was much longer when I got the job. I may actually cut it shorter.

Wow.

For the movie. I was like a skater rocker kid. I mean yeah, they were trying to like cast me for like rock star movies and stuff like that. At that time.

So it was like, really, it was just it was my hair.

It was just I didn't do anything to it at all. Just I always wore a backwards hat. That's just that was my look.

Yes, oh, I love that so much.

One thing that I would And I bring this up because this is a claim the fame of my life that took place in the movie that is probably completely unnoticeable to anyone else but me.

These are the best.

So after Brink organizes, me and the rest of my team getting beaten up by the adults, weird, weird, And then the first day a school, I come back and I take Gabrielle's shoes and tuck them over there. I lobbed those shoes up and get them on the wire. I actually threw those on that wire.

Did you really?

Yes? Yeh.

Take.

So this is the thing they like. Before we showed up on set, the crew was there with the director and everybody. They were trying to get an actual shot of the shoes flying from ground level up there, and they just weren't going to show the actual person who threw them. And they kept trying, and they kept trying, and everybody was all the grips were coming up to be like, I can do it, you know I can

Okay.

And so I just take the shoes and I lobb it up there and it hits. And it took everything in me not to just or even like it was someone who cuts out of the super Bowl.

That's I gotta go back and watch that seat together.

If here ain't those things, And it's like, now I got to go back and now I just have to watch your face to see like that.

I think that's so funny. When is the when's the last time you watched the movie?

Oh? Man? Really say last year? I watched it? Okay, Oh yeah, it brings back so many good memories. I mean, I had it was it was crazy, like I am so thankful to be a part of this movie. If I was not an actor in it, I would be just as much of a huge fan of it. And I do feel like the characters were so awesome, The storyline was so awesome, the directing and the locations were so cool that if they would have put another actor

Oh oh man, I have to go back and watch again. I know people got mad at me because I'd never seen it before. Wait, I had that wasn't little because I was a little older, So I like, you know, by the time Brink came out, I was like twenty, so I wasn't watching dcon and so I watched it. I watched it twice and I came in and I was like, here are my criticisms. And people went nuts. They're like, don't criticize Brink.

I'm darious.

They did not like it. I'm like, I'll watch again. I'll watch again. Oh it was so funny.

Oh man, You've got some loyal fans out there. They also really loved you in talking about little Giants.

Most people do not put two and two together. Really, that bow is also Spike.

How do they not really, they don't.

Like people's mind get blown when they figure out that that I'm I'm one and the same actor. Now what's wild is Joey Simmeren, who is Worm according to Gabriella on X Blades, is also on The Cowboys and Little Giants. Oh, he's also my like's secondhand.

Like, fine, it's such a sinner.

I love that.

Which film did you have more fun doing? I know it's tough, but I mean your rollerblading, So I figure because.

That's here, I would say that because of the overlap with the skating brink.

Yeah, two of your loves combinding.

Every acting job I've ever done was a dream come true. Boy meets world dream come true. But Brink has this like special place in my art.

Yeah, I can see that bow is still.

In my being. Yes, I did a cameo last week, and they asked me to just like kind of pull upon val because this was a cameo someone was purchasing for a friend who purchased them a cameo from brink eron and so I came in like with full roast level one hundred. Oh. Very offended by the fact that Brink was called upon for the first cameo, so I made my presence known as well. That awesome.

So all of the kind of jerk characters you've played, where does Val rank?

Top five?

Vowel m hm. I mean, so I've played a guy that In One Tree Hill, we kidnapped the two main characters who we were from a rival school, and they beat us. So we kidnapped them, stripped them down to their boxers, and then left them in the middle of nowhere. So that was pretty rough. Yeah, Spike definitely had serious, serious like our Yeah, he could be very bad. He would probably be ranked up there with like a young Mike Tyson maybe oh okay, wow and uh, but Val

So you're saying, if you watch Karate Kid again, it's actually Daniel's fault.

I keep thinking the same thing I keep thinking about because it was the same that kid had no remorse either, got his leg.

Off and not kidding me, he called upon a bunch of adults to beat us up because we took over the skating area. He sent me a bunch of worms that obviously could have killed me. That could have been fatal. Nobody knows, you know.

In all fairness, when you when you first rolled into the skate park, the first thing you did was knock him down.

That's true. Well, I distracted him a little in a way, you know, a comedic like nobody messing with your friends.

You know, I'm glad you're here. Here's the page.

We were friends, but apparently we weren't. Now.

Could you ever see because because at the end of the day you got the same passions.

Could you see a world where Val and Gabriella end up together?

There's no chance?

Why not?

I mean that was very charming.

So yeah, that would be that would result in a really really bad reality.

Storyline.

Or would Gabriel eventually say, hey, Brink, you're a nice guy. Soul skating is making you no money, whereas is now the captain of X Blades and making several thousand dollars a year doing what I love.

It's really nice to see you, Bronc. It's Brank. Whatever do you I mean? I see a possibility of that happening?

Come on? I always like to think about like where everybody would be. Now, I was just gonna they stayed upon the same course in life, and I don't know where the soul Skaters would be. I would worry about them. They would be struggling.

Where's val val Will probably.

Would have avenged himself against Jimmy. Yeah, he probably would have found a way to eat, to take over Team X Blades, or to create another company that would destroy Team X Blades. And then I think that he would probably make sure that he got the final word and the last laugh with the soul Skaters law.

I think so che sinister dun dund dum.

All Right, what was because I know we're gonna we could talk Brink all day, because I want to talk about Brink all day. But you got to work with some pretty incredible people throughout your career, and there's one specifically who is just a legend that I want to talk a little bit about.

What was it like Working with Rick moranis awesome?

That was another one where totally starstruck. Honey, I shrunk the kids. I mean, like like Blockbuster, one of the coolest movies ever. You know, working with him was phenomenal. I didn't have a whole lot of scenes directly with him. We were in the scene together, right, but when the time that I did spend he was obviously like a

That's what I say.

It's like, did you did he ever feel like he was a coach? Like you kind of looked up to him?

Or well, I mean no, because I was on the Cowboys.

So you know, I was just wondering if he's still just because he's there.

You know, Ed O'Neill was my coach.

Ed O'Neill would always feel like a coach, would never it never felt.

Right when I was on The Little Giants?

What did Evil? What was that O'Neill like?

Because that O'Neil was is a classically trained yes stage actor who then has the people are like Oh no.

He started on Marriti Children like No. I remember seeing he was at the Hartford stage.

Watch him on Miami Vice.

Oh really, have you ever seen No.

What Miami Weis? Episode? Now you will have a newfound higher respect for him as an actor. He is incredible in that he ends up getting killed in it. It's crazy. He's like an undercover agent that gets caught up in it all and lost in it and then I can't wait to see this one back out and then he ends up dying at the end. Wow, it's amazing.

He's one of those actors where people he was like a Leslie Nielsen, where people know him as being funny, and then you go back and go like.

No, this was a classically trained actor. I mean these are stage actors.

That he could have gone any which way.

That's what made them so good, and he was He would have.

Been successful whichever direction they went, absolutely and he was. He was great. I mean again, not a whole lot. I mean we did our scenes together, which was phenomenal, awesome, but then there were times where we actually got to kind of like chit chat and that was the best. Wow.

You mentioned Brink two, so you get the script for Brink two tomorrow.

What is the ideal script for you? What is Brink two? Pitch us? Brink took too?

Yes, I would imagine that. Obviously, now everybody's older, there's probably a resurgence in skating and that's where their past cross once again.

Oh do you think it'd be their kids going at it?

Or would they?

And they're like the head of the team.

Can you still rollerblade? Do you still rollerblade?

I can do you. I don't fall like I used to, None of us do. So I this middle finger left hand.

Yeah.

The last time I was skating, well like aggressive skating was about two years ago, and I was at a skate park and I was just kind of like getting back into it and getting my like you know, sea.

Legs, your sea legs back.

Yeah. Yeah.

And so there was a ledge that I was going to grind and it was a curved one, which is you know, we didn't have a lot of those back in the day, And so I was going out a little bit and then finally I was like, okay, I'm going to like hit it one more time, go for this completely commit. I'm like I'm probably gonna get hurt, but that's not a big deal, like you have to accept that before you start skating. But I gauge shit

Ever, that's always the way it works.

I never felt more like a soul skater.

You hurt yourself for freak like the soul skaters.

Did I know how Gabrielle and the rivalry continues, Yeah, exactly.

You're you're reaping what you sew for somebody going in like I'll take him out and just putting something on the on the grinding thing.

Is it a rail that somebody could have? Maybe it was brink. I didn't even think about that, is it?

Maybe you didn't see it?

Eric out of nowhere, Gabriella is hiding behind a tree, throws some rocks out there. Just taking me.

Out got you back? Speaking of which, do you talk to anybody from the film anymore.

Periodically, I'll talk to so man. It was it was such a bummer because Eric invited me to his fortieth birthday party. Oh man, I was so excited to go, and but then I got a East coast event that that conflicted and so I uh, and then we did we did like a kind of like a reunion type of thing, just through like a video call. But that's that's it so far.

Oh my, everything is coming back and Brink is one of those things.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but they did a we talked about this.

In the in the pod when we were rewatching it for the first time. They did a list of where people rank these movies.

Yeah, and Brink was number one.

This was not that long ago.

This was not a small publication.

It was like they ranked all of the dcoms of all time and Brink was number one.

Yeah, it's definitely it's it's got a cult following and it's one of those movies that if you're if you don't know, like it, like it always feels good to watch it. Yeah for me, like like those so my my like number one all time favorite movie. Back to the Future first.

One great movie perfect movie.

Any day I can put that on. I'm gonna love it. I'm gonna enjoy it. Know all the lines, I know exactly what's gonna happen when it happens, and and every time it's phenomenal. Yeah, and Brink is similar to that.

But the skating is so good too, you know.

And I think for the young generation of that time, it's awesome to look back and go, man, I just remember thinking, you know.

Foul was so cool, he was so good. And same with Brink, like just you got again.

The way they were able to edit to where it literally looks like the entire cast that's rollerblading is doing it the whole time. It does not look obvious. We've watched other movies where it is obvious.

There was no CGI back then. We didn't have any of.

That, and it makes a difference in the movie. Is it's wholesome.

It's got such a great you know, a great message, and you know, beyond that.

It's like, it's got great hair. And that's what the girls want. They wanted a lot of hair and the hair with.

A lot of hair and a lot of cute boys. That's what they got.

That could be us the plot line too, you know, but we have competing hair salons.

They've done that. I think, what are you doing now? And where can people find you?

Me? Well, I do a lot of charity type of work with a church and teach kindergartener's Sunday school. Wow, the Pokemon pictures.

And sorry, well from Brink is a Sunday school teacher.

Right, that might be the best thing I've ever heard.

Love that every single person's redeemable. Apparently that would.

Have to be in the second Brink movie. That would have to be part that all.

From Brink is a Sunday school teacher. How do we not leave it there? Thank you so much for joining us, and uh hopefully you'll be back for Brink two. This time it's personal.

I love that.

Thanks you guys, Thank you. I have a great day too.

I love meeting people that are we talk about this on Podmet's World because we all had so much fun doing the show. I love meeting people that did something that mattered to other people, but it so mattered to them too, having so much fun doing it, and they love talking about it and being involved in it. And so when you see his face light up when he's talking about Brink, yes, that was really cool.

And to know, I mean again, it meant so much to him because I remember that with the Cheetah Girls and things that you get to collaborate multiple loves like his love for rollerblading and the sport, and then he gets to do that in a role acting like you know, he went to that audition.

I mean, he brought his whole uffle bag.

He was like, no, you can hire somebody who can't skape, but you could hire me and I can.

Like tear it up out there. I am like the legit real thing, like I there's no one better for this job than.

Me, and I love that. And kid actors are so fearless like that. You know, child actors, you go in, you don't you don't worry about boasting or you know, you you want to convince them why you are the best for the job.

Yeah, you just throw down. Love that. Thank you for joining us.

If you want to follow us, of course, you can follow us at Magical rewind Pod on the Instagram machine and that is where you'll find out whatever we're watching next, so you can go and watch it with us and make sure that you're caught up because these movies are pretty great anyway, this next time. Thank you everybody, and thanks to Sam for stopping bye because that was really really cool and we will see you next time.

Bye bye.